Counting Bodies Like Sheep
by LorettyLauren93
Summary: When the world goes to hell, Lyricka's life goes with it. Thinking she has lost her brothers and daughter, she finds herself shacked up in a tree; only to be run off a cliff and found by the Atlanta Survivors. Weeks go by as she finds her place among the ranks of the camp; getting along with mostly everybody. Mostly. Except for Daryl Dixon. Rated M for Language and later Chapters.
1. 1: Intro

**Hey Guys! It's been a while since I've been on here. I am so sorry about that. D:**

**If I have any fans that read this and is familiar with any of my other stories, I will get them done as soon as I stop getting brain farts and/or stop getting ideas for new stories. -.-**

**However! This is my new fanfic for the incredibly badass Daryl Dixon. *mouth waters* As well as my first Walking Dead fanfic. **

**So please, don't flame on me and be kind to point out my flaws. This chapter is just the basics and get to know who Lyricka (my OC) is. Her intro will be first person, but after that, it will be third person, I promise.**

**I do not own The Walking Dead, nor do I own the plot, characters, or Norman Reedus. Cause if I did, there would be a lot of little Norman Reedus' running around with crossbows shooting little zombie targets. :D And this story would be non existent. **

**But enough of my rambling, please go on and read. Leave me some reviews please. (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums- Intro <strong>

My name is Lyricka Rae "Gentle Deer" Hill. I'm just your typical, well accomplished 25 year old. I stand at a comfortable 5'6" and have shoulder length chocolate brown hair, ice blue eyes, sun kissed tan skin, and high cheek bones; a result in having Native American blood. People called me Rae Rae, or just Lyricka.

That was, before hell unleashed across the planet.

I had a good life.

I grew up on a cattle farm in Alabama, though I moved to West Virginia soon after my daughter, Addison, was born. My parents were high school dropouts, but they were good people. I attended college in Alaska majoring in Wildlife Conservation and management with a minor in Military Science and Leadership. My parents were nonetheless proud of me. My family was large, me being the oldest of four. I had three brothers.

I grew up independent and resourceful. I was a hard worker, I enjoyed being outdoors, and I loved my friends and family; especially Addison. I knew what I needed to know and how to use things to my advantage, courtesy of my Cherokee descent grandfather. I could tell what time it was by looking at the position of the sun, hunt and fish by using a bow and a stake, and name what tree or shrub I walked by.

When the outbreak happened, I was in Georgia on vacation with my two brothers, Brantley and Luke, and with Addison. We had no idea what was going on. My brothers, Addison, and I had gotten split up in the middle of the chaos. I had thought the world had gone mad. When I found a place with a working telephone, I heard my family in Alabama getting attacked by the undead. It took me a solid day to let the realization sink in that I was alone, that something had happened to my brothers, that the end of the world had dawned upon humanity, and that it was now survival of the fittest.

I took shelter in a refugee camp with several others that were just like me; afraid, bewildered, wondering if today was our last day alive. It didn't take long for the place to be overrun. A few of us managed to escape with some ammunition and weapons, but it was still not enough.

In half a days time, we made it to a mall and took shelter where me and a few others rested, got to know each other, and prayed that it would all end in the morning, that it was just a bad dream.

Weeks go by, and now I'm all alone. I still have faith that there is people alive out there trying to survive this hell. I've made shelter up in the trees, far up enough to make my presence known but not seen. All that I am equipped with is a walkie-talkie, MRE's, and a few clothes that I could fit into my military grade backpack. My only weapons is a compound bow equipped with a reel for bow fishing and six arrows, a 5" gut knife, and a Glock .45 with laser sights and four clips. I have had no contact with any form of life since then.

I still pray that this is just a bad dream.


	2. 2: They Grow Up So Fast

_Hey guys, got the second chapter out no one comes in yet. Hopefully the third. I'll my hardest. I promise. (:_

_I hope you all like it. Let me know if anything sounds weird. I really like hearing from everyone and would like to have some good feedback. Again, let me know if anything goes wrong or doesn't sound like anyone from the Walking Dead. (:_

_R&R, please. (:_

_Thanks._

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><p><em>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums- Chapter 2: They Grow Up So Fast<em>

Blue eyes scanned the forest floor from above like a hawk. A cool, steady breeze blew through the forest, taking some form of relief off the Georgia heat. Sweat beaded on the eyes' owner as her hand subconsciously wiped it away. Brown hair stuck to sweat drenched sun kissed skin only to be put up in a sloppy bun in a futile attempt to stay cool. Taking her eyes off of the ground in search for any form of movement, Lyricka turned her scrutinizing gaze towards her supplies. She was beginning to run low once again. Running a gritty hand over her face, she blew out a sigh of frustration. This heat was killing her if not starvation. It's been almost a month and half since the outbreak happened, a month and a half since she's been in contact with anyone alive. It's been a lonely month and a half.

Lyricka missed her family and worried about her brother terribly. Every day she had prayed that there were still some form of hope that some had survived. Sitting down on a worn out lawn chair, she picked up the walkie talkie in hopes to hear someone's voice. Twisting the knob on top of the device, the familiar sound of static welcomed her. Biting her lip, Lyricka pressed the button to speak.

She hesitated, licking her cracked lips, "This is Lyricka Rae Hill, is anyone out there?" She asked, taking her fingers off the radio. Garbled static remained present as a heavy feeling settled at the bottom of her stomach as she clicked over on the button, "Please, is there anyone still alive? Respond." Static still remained. Tears began gathering in her eyes as she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying, "Somebody, anybody, please respond. I have been without food for three days. Is there anyone out there?" Hearing the static once more, she wiped the tears away to prevent them from falling. Getting on the CB has become a hobby of sorts. Something inside her urged her to keep on going, not to give up. Sure, Lyricka could hunt. She was an excellent shot with her bow.

Today was different; she spotted a familiar Walker not too far from where she was at. It's been making frequent rounds in her area lately, aimlessly stumbling around, moaning. She had a hint that it knew she was around, but it was too dumb to look up into the trees. Out of boredom, she even named the Walker, George. Sighing, she grabbed her military grade backpack to assess what all she needed and what all she had left.

"So I've got half a canteen left of water. I'm basically out of food 'cause I have one MRE left. I need a whetstone for my knife 'cause I lost the one I had from the military base somewhere. I got plenty of arrows. Need my clothes washed, but seein' how there's none open, that makes it kinda hard." Lyricka rambled off to herself. Glancing around for a second, she smiled inwardly at her little tree house shelter. The tree house she had come up with took about a week to conjure things up. It was big enough to get up and walk around, yet she preferred to sit still whenever she felt danger was close. " 's better than bein' down on the ground, I guess." She muttered to herself again. God she missed having someone to talk to, if one person was alive, she would've been happy.

The sound of leaves rustling and twigs cracking snapped Lyricka from her assessment causing her to look around warily, her hand reaching for her bow. The rustling continued as she scanned the area. She didn't have to guess what was walking around, she could smell it. "George." Lyricka whispered upon hearing groaning. Except now she heard scratching. Lyricka's heart sank in dread as she slowly peaked through the cracks of her tree house. The color in her face drained as she was greeted by the hungry snarls from her regular visitor, George.

Observing George from far off, he didn't look half bad. Up close, however, was a different story. The poor man was obviously attacked getting ready for work or at work, seeing how his gore soaked clothes were work attire. His hands clawed at the tree bark until the nails peeled back, congealed black blood oozing from them. Lyricka's eyes made contact with George's. They had a crazed, animosity glint to them as his face was contorted into a gruesome contortion. Two grizzly gashes ran over the left side of his face, one connecting with what was left of his mouth, for he had no lips-just mangled looking teeth with rotting flesh between them and loaded with whatever virus that took out most of the human population. The stench of infection and death overwhelmed her in a gut wrenching onslaught. That poor bloody bastard.

Lyricka sat up on her heels, still looking at George warily, "Damn, George." She commented sarcastically, "You done got smart on me." She smirked somewhat, acting like she was wiping away a fake tear, "You grew up so fast."

George's growls and scratching resonated through the quiet forest as Lyricka just sat on her lawn chair smirking sheepishly. "Better up here than down there." She muttered as the sun went down. Grabbing a blanket, she wrapped herself in it as George's failed attempts to get her went on through the night and finally gave up at the ass crack of dawn.


	3. 3: Over the Edge

**Hey guys, sorry I've been a little late on this chapter. But I got it out. (:**

**I hope everyone likes it so please give me some feedback. It's much obliged. **

**So here ya go! Please let me know if anything isn't right or something. And again, no hatin'. **

**R&R, please. (:**

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><p><em>Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 3: Over the Edge<em>

Lyricka woke with a start upon hearing twigs snapping. Her hand flew to her bow in expectation of George showing up, instead, her heart skipped in joy at the sight of a deer. It wasn't very big, nor was it small. She watched it intently as it picked its way quietly through the forest causing a full force of hunger pangs through her. Looking around the area warily and underneath the tree house, Lyricka decided it was time to find food. But seeing how she hasn't eaten in four days due to conserving her last MRE, a deer was something she couldn't pass up. Grabbing her back pack and making sure everything was secured in plastic bags; ammo for her gun, CB radio, etc-she got up and let down the ladder.

As quietly as Lyricka possibly could, she reached the forest floor; the leaves underneath her boots crunched slightly. Instantly, she was in hunting mode, her bow in front of her with an arrow ready. She knew that hunting was dangerous, especially now that her favorite little Walker named George figured out that she was up a tree. Walkers, she found, were easy to predict where they came from; following a path of their own accord. They were usually clumsy as crap and didn't bother with stealth; anything could smell them a mile away as well as hearing them stagger around aimlessly, growling. Lyricka was no stranger on climbing trees, she was almost as good as a squirrel, and there were plenty of trees around. Her stomach growled and cramped up several times as she would hide behind trees or slowly follow the deer's trail. Something wasn't right in today and she knew it. But it was either eat or be eaten. In this case for the time being- starvation.

Her gut was telling her to stop what she was doing and go back to the tree house. Like a hunger crazed fool, Lyricka ignored it and continued deeper and farther away from safety. Cursing quietly every time she could get in position for a good shot on the deer, it would move another way. Furrowing her brows in frustration, she started towards it with a little more confidence until the deer stopped. Lyricka froze in place as the deer looked in her direction, its ears swiveling and stopping assessing the sounds around it. Its wide eyes staring at her. Lyricka's uneasy breathing faltered when it pawed the ground, snorting. Twigs broke off in the distance causing the deer to whip its head in the direction of the sound, raising its tail and bolted.

In frustration at the loss of her would be kill, Lyricka straightened up to see what scared the deer. Her heart stopped briefly, seeming to relocate itself into her throat her stomach elsewhere. Stumbling around, growling was George. Taking a shaky deep breath, Lyricka almost gagged from the stench that arose from George's appearance. Looking around for food, George's eyes lolled around before one caught her in its sight. George stopped to look straight at her. His head cocked sideways as he took uneasy, teetering steps towards her before growling in hunger. Lyricka found herself planted in her spot.

She knew today was gonna be a bad day.

Finally finding the strength to move, she began stepping backwards, her eyes planted on George. Her heart pounding loudly in her ears, she glanced behind her to see what was behind her. Seeing that there was nothing, she spun on her heels quickly before blindly bolting into a direction she chose. With George chasing after her, she knew that she wouldn't last long running after starving herself for four days to preserve her last MRE. One Walker wasn't bad.

_Piece of cake_, she thought, _should be easy to lose_.

She heard another growl causing her to turn her head slightly to see a female Walker now taking chase. Lyricka let out a strained groan as she put all of her strength in her legs, pushing herself to her limit. Jumping over fallen branches and going through briar patches, she slid to a stop at the edge of a cliff going into a quarry. Glancing back at the two advancing Walkers, she looked to the possible 100 foot drop.

"Better than getting eaten alive." Lyricka muttered to herself as she grasped her arrows and bow tightly before taking a deep breath, backing up slightly. Getting a running start, she felt the ground leave her as gravity pulled her towards her fate. Closing her eyes, she awaited the impact. After what felt like an eternity, a suffocating cold rush greeted her until a sharp blinding pain erupted in her side and head. Slowly drifting up, her vision blurred and went black.

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><p>Sometime later...<p>

"Is she dead?" A voice asked from somewhere in her mind.

"She may be a walker." Another one responded, "you can't be sure."

"Walkers aren't out here this far." Another voice replied, "It isn't possible."

"You never know, they're runnin' out of their food supply." One of the voices said.

"She doesn't look like she's a walker." A young voice said.

"Carl, hush." A woman's voice replied to the younger one, shushing them.

"Let's just put the bitch out of her misery. She's probably infected." A raspy voice came out of nowhere.

"Merle! Be quiet, she's just injured. Can't you see the arrow sticking out of her side?" Another woman's voice countered.

"Ya never know sugar tits." The one named Merle replied.

"Merle!"

Lyricka opened her eyes and saw blurry shapes. Trying to take a deep breath, she couldn't find any air and gasped. Someone arched her neck backwards feeling warmth on her mouth, air forced through her lungs. Still unable to breath, she gasped out before having air forced into her lungs once more. Coughing harshly, water came out of her mouth as she began to dry heave, some water spelling from her stomach. Filling her lungs with air on her own, she saw people standing around her.

"Survivors?" She asked weakly.

"Yeah, we're survivors." A man replied as she smiled, lying her head down and falling back into black.


	4. 4: I'm Alive?

**Hey guys! Got Chapter four out!**

**I'm wanting to thank Bloodrope for being the first one the review my story.**

**Thank you so much. (:**

**Finally got some Daryl action in, haha. There'll be more to come, I promise.**

**So guys, please leave me some feedback. I want to know how good I'm doing, if I'm keeping the characters to their personalities and how they act right, and all this other stuff. I like stuff like that.**

**Please R&R! (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums Chapter 4: I'm Alive?<strong>

A million different thoughts ran through Lyricka's mind; being dead was one of them. She knew she was never bit, but damn did she feel a sharp, nauseating pain in her head.

Surely to God this isn't what death feels like,

Lyricka mused in her head, _if this is death, then why am I feeling pain?_ Trying to move her hands, she felt a rough material underneath her. _What in God's name?_ She wondered as she slowly sat up, opening her eyes. At first, everything was a big swirling mess enticing the nausea to get worse. Putting her hand on her head, she winced in pain drawing her hand away from her head furrowing her brows slightly. Pain altered Lyricka's focus as she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again to focus her vision. It looked like she was inside an RV. Turning her head slowly to her right there was a small curtain covering a window. Reaching out for it, her fingers brushed against the thin material, pushing it back slightly allowing the bright light of day to shine through. Pain stung her eyes at the sudden brightness as Lyricka squeezed her eyes shut again, letting the curtain go, rubbing her eyes.

Her ears picked up people conversing outside causing her to stop and listen. Was she going crazy from starvation? Was this a dream? Or was this real? Turning off of the bed that she was on, she put her feet on the ground realizing she didn't have her shoe on either. The cool RV floor greeted her as she struggled to get up while having nagging pangs of pain in her side and head. Grabbing for the first thing to steady herself on, Lyricka slowly but surely made her way to the front of the RV. A shot of adrenaline shot through her as she started to think to herself how she was going to react to people. Inhaling deeply, she teetered down the steps, feeling the grittiness of the ground beneath her.

All around the RV were tents of many colors. To her left, there were a group of cars and trucks. Lyricka just stood there zoning out, taking in her new surroundings, not even paying attention to someone approaching her.

Hearing gravel crunching, she turned her head seeing the receiving end of a crossbow. Her breath ceased as her throat closed up preventing her to say a word.

"Best be sayin' something if you want to live." A voice drawled from behind the crossbow.

Lyricka's mouth open and closed like a fish in an attempt to speak as she noticed a finger moving towards the trigger. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Speak!" The voice barked out harshly as she continued moving her mouth as her throat failed to produce sounds.

"Daryl! Stop!" Another voice yelled out causing Lyricka to jump slightly, turning her head towards the person. An elderly man with a gray beard wearing a navy blue fishing hat, a yellow summer shirt unbuttoned, revealing a white wife beater shirt underneath, and khaki pants rushed up towards her.

"Shut up, Old Man!" The one named Daryl spat out, "Bitch needs to speak or I'll kill 'er."

"Daryl, she's scared stiff because of you, that's probably why she isn't speaking!" The elderly man replied as he put a gentle hand on Lyricka's shoulder. Lyricka's eyes met with his and nodded slowly, swallowing hard before she looked back to the crossbow nervously. The commotion went unnoticed as a few more people came in assistance.

"Daryl, put that down man." Another man spoke in Lyricka's defense. Her eyes went to him. He was well built, had a strong jaw, wide nose, curly brown hair, and brown eyes. The man wore a King County Sheriff's Department shirt and hat as he carried a tactical shotgun over his shoulder.

"Piss off, Shane." Daryl spat out, "Not 'til she says something."

Lyricka felt her body start to go numb in fear as her nerves became shot causing her hands to shake severely. The women that were in the camp were all standing around looking at the scene with scrunched up faces in disgust at how 'Daryl' was acting. She caught a few of them whispering he was just like his brother and shaking their heads in disapproval. Five small children looked at the scene in awe as three women shooed them away into a tent.

"Daryl, I'm giving you an option," Shane said calmly, "Drop the crossbow. You're scaring the girl."

Daryl replied with a hateful grunt, not moving the weapon from her face.

With some form a courage she mustered, she opened her mouth once again, "Please get that out of my face." She croaked out. Lyricka winced slightly at how rough her voice sounded. Sighs of relief came from different people as Daryl slowly pointed the crossbow down. The owner of the crossbow stared at her with some kind of seething anger. His grayish blue eyes bore into her as a cooling breeze came through tousling his messy light brown hair. Daryl's lips were pulled into a tight line before a snarl curled them slightly as he turned on his heels, stalking away.

"Don't worry about him." The elderly man said in a hushed voice, "That's Daryl Dixon. If I were you, I'd stay away from him and his brother, Merle. They're nothing but trouble."

Lyricka looked at him with a soft smile, "Thanks."

"I'm Dale." The man introduced himself as she smiled a little more, shaking his hand. The man named Shane walked up to her as well.

"I'm Shane, you alright?" he asked as Lyricka nodded quietly, "Sorry about that. Daryl's not a people person."

"I can tell." She replied as he looked at her up and down.

"How did you get yourself in a position to where you had to jump over a cliff?" He asked causing Lyricka's throat to swell up. Everyone's prying eyes bore into her as she looked to the ground.

"I was hunting and got chased off by Walkers." She said quietly.

"What?" He said, "Walkers? Here?"

Lyricka nodded, "At least, I don't know how far away I am from them."

Shane was about to pry her for more information until Lyricka's stomach let out a painful growl causing her to wince, "When was the last time you ate?" he asked instead.

"Four days." She replied, "I had one MRE left so I wanted it to last as long as it could. That's why I went hunting."

Shane merely nodded, "Well, we'll get you something to eat and drink. You need it."

Lyricka smiled, "Thanks." As he left, Dale walked her though camp where she met the rest of the survivors.

"See over there?" Dale asked as Lyricka looked over to a table with a group of kids and their mothers. She nodded as Dale looked back at her, "That's Lori and her son, Carl." He started off as Lyricka's eyes fell on a woman with her son as she was teaching him something. Lori's eyes made contact with hers and smiled a little bit, as Lyricka returned the favor, "That's Carol Peletier and her daughter Sophia," Dale continued as she saw a petite woman with shaved, greyed hair helping her daughter, "And that's Miranda and her son and daughter, Louis and Eliza." Lyricka's eyes finally fell on the last mother with her son and daughter, laughing. Her heart squeezed painfully at them. She wasn't sure if it was in envy for the fact that they still had each other, or in fear for them in case the worst was to happen.

As Dale leaded Lyrick through the camp, she was introduced to Amy and her sister Andrea bringing some firewood, Morales as he came back from the quarry with an armful of clothes, Earl, Carol's husband, who was sitting staring at Carol and Sophia, Jacqui as she was folding a pile of clothes, giving Lyricka a reassuring smile as they passed by, and finally met Glenn, Jim, and T-Dog at the RV.

"Glad to see that Daryl didn't hurt ya," Glenn said with a smile, as Lyricka smiled slightly at him, "Don't worry about him though, him and his brother tends to themselves."

"Thanks, I guess." She replied as she looked to her side to the other side of the camp where the two rednecks were conversing amongst themselves, the one named Merle caught her looking and puckered his lips, pecking the air in a guesture towards her. Lyricka furrowed her brows in disgust as Daryl looked towards her in a scowl. Turning her head back towards Glenn and Dale, her head started throbbing, causing her to put a hand on her head and close her eyes. Opening her eyes upon feeling a hand on her, she saw that it was Dale looking at her, then motioned with his eyes to the RV, sensing she was tired.

"Come on, Lyricka. You took quite a hit when you fell off the quarry." He said, "You hit your head pretty hard and had an arrow in your side. I'll have Jacqui or Lori come in to give you clean bandages."

Lyricka nodded, "Thank you, Dale. How long was I out?"

Dale's brows furrowed in thought, "A couple of days. But you've been drifting in and out of consciousness. Lori's son, Carl found you. You gave us quite a scare thinking you were a Walker. That was until you asked if we were Survivors."

"Wow." She muttered. Her eyes found the floor as she stared at it for a minute.

"Just sit here, alright? I'll get someone to change your bandages." Dale said as he turned to exit, "And I'll find you something to eat and drink."

"Thanks." She muttered again as she laid back down. Closing her eyes momentarily, she fell asleep.

Running as fast as she could, Lyricka could hear her heart pounding loudly in her head. Her breaths where short and quick as her legs screamed out in protest. The familiar snarls of pursuing Walkers were evidently getting closer. It felt as if she were running in slow motion while the Walkers were hobbling in fast forward. There was practically no where to hide, nothing to climb up, and nothing to elude her fate. What seemed like it took eons of running, soon came to a grim end when a magical root popped out of nowhere causing Lyricka's foot to become entangled in it with the result of her falling to the cold earth. She let out a cry of pain looking down to see her ankle twisted in an unnatural way. Her eyes looked around wildly for Walkers as she gritted her teeth in pain from her ankle. Struggling to get up, she found no strength in her legs or arms. The hobbling Walkers came into sight as her heart wildly beat. She knew her fate was inevitable. Their snarls and clicking teeth came closer as she squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting the moment when they began to tear into her. Hearing the shuffling of feet, the pops of their knees and the dull thumps of them dropping beside her made a shot of adrenaline course through her. Their rattling growls were right in her ears and the smell of death and infection filled her nose. Nauseated, she held her breath as their teeth gnashed together, leaning down towards her throat. A cold hand grabbed a hold of her arm as she let out a scream.

Lyricka jerked awake to see Lori sitting beside her with wide eyes, "Are you alright? You were screaming."

She nodded, trembling as she slowly sat up feeling her clothes sticking to her back and front from sweating, "I'm fine," She mumbled, "Just had a nightmare."

Lori nodded before she put a reassuring hand on her arm, "That's understandable. You've been through a lot." Lyricka's lips twitched in a poor excuse of a smile as she averted her eyes every now and then.

"I've been alone for so long." She whispered, "I didn't think anyone was still alive."

Lori smiled and patted her arm, "We all thought that until we heard your voice on the radio."

Lyricka looked up at her in disbelief, "You all heard me?"

Lori nodded, "Yes, we tried to get contact with you."

"I never heard anything back. All I got was static. I didn't think anyone survived." She said, feeling dense. The entire time they heard her but the stupid walkie-talkie was so far outdated it couldn't pick them up. She made a mental note in her head to smash the damn thing when she had the strength to hold herself up. Lori looked her over seeing blood spotting on her shirt.

"Looks like you tore some stitches while you were having that nightmare, let's get you cleaned up." She said breaking Lyricka out of her thoughts. Lyricka looked down to see the blood and nodded. As Lori cleaned her wounds, she spotted a cup of food and water on the table. Her mouth began to salivate in hunger and her stomach cramped up painfully reminding her how hungry she really was. A low growl came from her abdomen causing Lori to stop briefly as Lyricka's face began to redden in embarrassment.

"Sorry," she mumbled as Lori laughed a little.

"Don't be, it's alright for you to be hungry." She replied with a smile, "There's a change of clothes for you beside your food. Carol and Andrea are washing what clothes you had in your backpack. Just take it easy for a couple of days and we'll find you a tent someone could lend to you for the time being."

A smile found it's way to Lyricka's lips, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

Lori just smiled and nodded before she got up and walked out of the RV. Lyricka watched her leave before Shane met her. His gaze met hers as her face reddened slightly and she turned her head away, focusing more on the food and clothes that were laid out for her.

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><p><strong>Bloodrope- I got bumfuzzled on the names. At first, Lyricka's name was originally gonna be Laekin, but I realized that I had already used that name in a different story so I didn't want to copy and I misspelled her name Lyrika. lol. Lyricka just used whatever she could innovate into something she could live in, coming to the conclusion that living in the trees were much safer than being on the ground. I would do that too if the Zombie Apocalypse came. haha.<strong>


	5. 5: Unnoticed

**Ok everyone, I know I've made some minor changes, but I felt like I had to add a chapter between four and the original chapter 5. I hope it sounds alright. Please let me know if it don't seem right or anything.**

**R&R, please. (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 5: Unnoticed<strong>

A week had slowly went by since Lyricka had been welcomed into the camp. Everyone had been in a good mood about the new addition. All for the exception for a few. Finding out that Lyricka was a good shot, she had been asked to help with the hunting and supply runs. In no time, she had became friends with Glenn. He had almost become like a little brother of some sort to her, resulting in the oldest sibling to strike up in her. She found it relatively easy to confide her secrets to him.

Today though, she found herself folding clothes with him under the tree.

She wiped the sweat off her brow, looking up through the leaves, "Lovely weather, ain't it?" she said sarcastically as the asian boy looked to her with a smile.

"Oh yeah," he replied with the same sarcastic tone, "just great."

Laughing, she picked up one of Carl's and folded it, Glenn quietly folded up a pair of his pants before stopping and looked at her, "Rae."

Sensing that he wanted to ask her something, her lips turned up into a light smile, her blue eyes met with his, "What?"

He hesitated for a moment, "How come you trust me? I mean, I don't want it to sound rude, but you've only been here a week."

Lyricka blinked at his question, "Well," She began, pulling out a cigarette from her pocket and lit it, "Ya remind me so much of my brothers. It's like," she paused for a moment, taking a draw, "It's like, I can tell you anythin' and I know ya wouldn't tell anyone." She finished as Glenn looked down at the pair of pants in his lap, "Is it a bad thing?"

Glenn's eyes widen slightly, "No, no! It's not. It's just, no one's really thought of me that way."

A smile formed on her lips, "Awe. Should I take it as a complement?" she asked as a reddish tint played on his face.

"Well, yeah, I guess." he replied with a smile, "How many brothers did you have?" he suddenly asked out as she paused in mid-fold and looked at him.

"Three." She answered, "I was the oldest so hence the sisterly ways." she added nudging him with a smile. Glenn chuckled as he picked up a shirt and folded it.

"Don't feel bad, I had four sisters." Glenn replied, "I was in the middle."

Lyricka laughed, "I sense that someone had to be their sister's guinea pig."

"Yeah, I was." Glenn replied with a smile, "I miss them."

Lyricka put down the folded shirt on her lap and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, I miss mine too. And my daughter."

Glenn looked up at her with wide eyes, "You have a daughter?"

Nodding, she pulled out a picture of her from her shorts, "This is her."

"She's beautiful," He murmured lightly, as he handed it back to Lyricka, "How old was she?"

"Four. And she never really grew out of her terrible two's." She said laughing lightly, trying to ignore the pain that clenched at her heart.

"Guess you can say she's at her fearsome four?" Glenn said jokingly, noticing her sudden change in personality.

Staring at her picture, she laughed half heartedly, "Yeah, I reckon ya can say that."

"What happened?"

She inhaled deeply at his question, "My brother's, Luke and Brantley, and Addison, and I were here mainly on vacation." Pausing to compose herself, "We were at a Toys R Us of all things." She laughed again remembering Addison running around the store looking at all the toys in awe, "Then somebody started screaming followed by others and we got separated by the time we managed to get out of the store. I don't know what had happened to them or where they possibly went or what. I even managed to go to the hotel where we was staying at, but they weren't there. I had to leave cause they were trying to evacuate the place as best as they could. I barely even had time to get my clothes."

"Do you think they're still out there?" He asked carefully, his eyes watching her as she looked up as if looking for an answer.

"I don't know." She said quietly, "I don't know if they made it somewhere safe. I don't know if they didn't. Sometimes, I think it's just easier on me that I don't know."

Glenn and her sat in silence. He regretted that she had to relive what had happened to her daughte.

"Sorry I asked." He muttered out in guilt.

Lyricka looked at him with a smile, tears forming in her eyes, "Don't be." She replied, putting her hand on his arm, "I guess, in a way, I'm tryin' my best to cope. And talkin' about it helps it somewhat. Thanks for listenin'."

"That's what I'm here for." He replied as he put an arm around her shoulders in a one armed hug. She smiled as they finished up folding the laundry and made their way to his tent so he could put his things in his tent.

"Wait here," he said as she nodded in confusion, watching her friend duck into his tent. Hearing something rustling from inside, he came back out with a paper bag, "Here."

Taking it, she looked at him slightly bewildered, "What is it?"

Glenn sighed, "Just open it." He urged as she arched a brow with a smile.

Opening the bag up, she saw that it was a bikini and a couple bars of soap with a razor, "Why a bikini?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I saw it on my last supply run and figured it would've made your life easier trying to bathe. And I just added in those other things too."

Smiling, she closed the bag and hugged her friend around the neck, "Ya didn't have to do that, Glenn. But I appreciate it." Glenn returned it as she then backed up a little bit, "_a lot_, actually." The both of them laughed as she put the bundled up bag under her arm as they went over to Lori and Carl's tent, "Lori, Carl, ya in there?" She called out, loud enough for them to hear. Hearing nothing, she rounded the other side of the tent where the opening was seeing no one in it. Shrugging, she walked in, placing the pile of folded clothes on Lori's cot.

Coming out, Lyricka stretched her arm a little, "Well, I reckon that's done for today. I'm sure that someone will end up findin' somethin' else for us to do, but until then, I shall bid you _adieu_, Glenn. I'm gonna take me a full on spa treatment." She said in a weird french accent causing him to laugh, "Neva said I's good imitating people, _Glenn_."

"That was too wierd, even for me." Glenn laughed out as she patted him on the back.

"But seriously, I'm going to take bath." She with a serious face, before the two of them started cracking up a little bit, "See ya when I get done." Lyricka said as she turned towards her tent to retrieve a few things.

"Alright. See ya." Glenn replied as he walked over to the Winnebago to see if Dale needed any help.

Walking into her new accomodated tent, she went over to her bag of few belongings. Opening it, she pulled out a gray pair of capri sweatpants along with a stained up white shirt that she had transformed into a sleeveless shirt, also grabbing a pair of underwear and a white bra. Straightening up, Lyricka pulled her grimy clothes and underwear off, letting them lie on the ground as she pulled out her bikini that Glenn had gotten her and put it on. It wasn't bad looking to say so herself. The top was a little small but the bottoms fit her perfectly. Either he'd been staring at her when she wasn't looking or he had a lucky guess. She couldn't help but laugh. Pulling her grimy clothes back on, she placed her clean ones into her bag with the things that Glenn had given her. Before leavin, she put her pistol in her hostler and her knife in her pocket for some sense of security. Walking back out, she began to pass eveeryone's tents in silence. Not hearing anything from the Dixon's today almost seemed like a godsend.

"Hey sugar." She heard Merle's voice call out causing her to cringe.

So much for that godsend, she mused in her head as she stopped to look at the oldest Dixon sibling lazily, "What'chu want, Merle?"

Wrong question to ask him,

she cursed in her head as he whistled lowly, "What _I_ want?" He asked himself with a chuckle as he walked over to her, "Well, missy, there's several things, I'd _love _for you to do."

She rolled her eyes, "Ain't ya got some cow ya gotta fuck?"

Merle pursed his lips in amusement at her insult, "Aw, now don't be like tha', girly. 'sides, yer the only one here I'd like to have a go with." He implied, grabbing his crotch.

Lyricka shivered, "I think I'll have ta pass, on tha'. I got somethin' I need to do."

"Well, I see how it is." Merle replied, "You'd fuck Chinky up there, but ya won't me?" He smirked, knowin he had pressed a button, "Ya know if ya want to know how a real man fucks, Ole Merle's always here to oblige." He said with a low chuckle at his offer.

Lyricka clenched her jaw in aggravation at how vulgar Merle had been. The end of the fucking world and she has to be in camp with the likes of him and his brother. _Only her_. Finally walking away from Merle, she made her way down to the quarry where no one was at. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Lyricka then pulled off her shirt and tossed it on a nearby rock. Unbottoning her shorts, she too tossed it, joining her shirt. The heat from the sun radiated like a sauna but not as bad as she stood in just her bikini.

She had a few tattoos that she had never mentioned to no one. She had two on her shoulders making one piece, the other mainly on her left hip with the rest of it covered by her bottoms, and the last one on her wrist. She didn't think anyone had noticed them, but none of them had ever mentioned about them either. More things better left unsaid the way she saw it. Glenn was probably the only one at this camp that new more about her. Tenatively taking a step towards the cool wave, she blew out a breath as it washed over her feet. Lyricka hated the cold, especially if it water. But seeing as there's no other option, she walked into the deeper water.

"Damn this is so cold." She huffed out to herself, allowing her body to accustom itself in the cold. Sinking deeper, her hair fanned out around her shoulders. Goosebumps raised on her legs and arms as she floated on her back out into the deepest part of the quarry, her toned arms and legs propelling herself to stay afloat.

Closing her eyes, feeling the sun's heat on her face, she was unaware that someone was watching her swim.

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><p>Up on the ridge coming back from his hunt, Daryl made his way silently downhill, before stopping hearing water splashing. The string of squirrels he had on his shoulder slid down slightly when he had stopped at the ledge, looking into the quarry. Shifting them back on his shoulder, his blue gaze fell upon Lyricka, the girl that he had pulled his crossbow on a week ago, swimming by herself. He found himself planted where he stood; watching her swim in the quarry. Running the back of his arm to wipe off sweat on his forehead, he noticed how the water rolled off her toned stomach when she turned onto her back; silver belly ring glittered in the sunlight against her tanned skin.<p>

His eyes looked at her scruitinizingly, seeing the elaborate tattoo on her hip. Raising his brows out of curiousity, Daryl's eyes strained to see what it made out. Before he could, she turned onto her belly, seeing the ones on her shoulders.

_How many damn tattoos this girl got? _He asked himself as he watched Lyricka making her way back to shore. Her body glistened from the water on her skin as bent down to her bag that she had on a rock, pulling something from it, he assumed that it was a bar of soap. Watching Lyricka, something unfamiliar made it's way to the surface in Daryl's mind. His breathing faltered seeing the muscles in her legs quivering when she slathered soap on them. A ball of tension made residence in his stomach. It was unnerving to him. If Merle had caught him right now, he wouldn't hear the end of it. Shaking his head, he shifted the string of squirrels and his crossbow, making his way back to camp.


	6. 6: Aggravation at it's Finest

**Holy Crap it's been a while ain't it? I'm sooo sorry guys! I've been so busy with stuff.**

**I'm not sure how this turned out, polite opinions and reviews would be nice. Thanks. (:**

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><p><strong><em>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 6: Aggravation at it's finest<em>**

Today had to be the most humid, hottest day of the summer. Sweat poured down the small of Lyricka's back, the space between her breasts, and face. It almost seemed unbearable. Muttering curses towards the sun under her breath, Lyricka slung her bow across her back as she walked down to the quarry with Amy and Andrea.

"I dunno 'bout you two, but the last one who went to hell, left the damned door open." Lyricka said with an envious look towards the cold water causing Amy and Andrea to giggle as they made their way to the water's edge. The past week that Lyricka has been in camp, her wounds had healed up to where they didn't bother her as much, enabling her to pull her weight around camp. Shifting the fishing pole she had borrowed from Dale, she stepped into the cool water with a blissful sigh, hearing Amy let out a squeal from the sudden cold. A smile came to her lips as she dug into a pocket, pulling out a nightcrawler she harvested from the night before. Hooking it, she held the line with her index finger as she flipped the restraint up and casted, waiting for something to bite. Reaching her hand in her other pocket, she slid out a pack of cigarettes popping one out and pursing her lips to take hold of it. Lighting it, she inhaled the full flavored cigarette, blowing the smoke through her nose.

"That stuff will kill ya, Rae!" Amy hollered from a rock. Squinting from the sun, her blue eyes looked over to her first real friends with a smile.

"Yeah, what else is new?" She drawled, wrapping the line around her finger to feel for any nibbles, inhaling the cigarette once more.

"So, what did you do before all this?" Andrea asked as she watched the tanned skinned girl focusing on her fishing pole, "We really don't know much about you, after you being here for a week and all."

Lyricka stiffened slightly at her question, hesitantly, she looked at Andrea, blowing out smoke, " 's not much to talk about." She replied, taking the last draw from her cigarette and turned to flick it away from the water, "Time and day like these now, not much use in being a game warden, now is it?"

Andrea laughed lightly, "Seems like going to college was a waste now doesn't it?"

"That's an understatement," she replied, "If I knew then what I know now, I would've thought more about my family than worrying about my education." Her words must've struck a nerve, because after that, Andrea hadn't said anything else. Feeling the line tug slightly, her heart leapt in eagerness. Another tug, stronger now, she jerked back and smiled as she hooked the fish. "Well, hot damn." She said as she reeled the fish in furiously. Seeing it's outline come in more, she brought it in with a smile and then looked at it. It wasn't too bad, grabbing the bluegill by the lip, she took the hook out and waded back to shore, picking up the fish line and threaded it through it's mouth and gill and stringing it up. Digging in her pocket for another worm, she hooked it and waded back out, casting. Fourty minutes in, Amy and Andrea left Lyricka to herself, who smiled at them leaving.

Finally alone, lighting up another cigarette, she smiled contently and casted out again.

After a few hours of fishing, Lyricka decided it was time to get back to camp before Shane decided to send out the calvary. Turning around, she saw Ed come lumbering down to the slope, cigarette in tow.

"Best be getting back to camp." he said as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't need no man tellin' me what to do." She replied, taking her time to disassemble the fishing pole and straightened up, to see his scowl, "Never have, never will." She continued, hoisting the string of fish over her sunburned shoulder and finally looked at Ed with a lazy look.

"You do as you're told." He demanded.

Lyricka cocked her head with a smirk, "Oh really now? And who's gonna tell me?" As she said this, Ed walked up to her and stared her down.

"I'll do what I have to," Ed replied with a dark look, his breath beating down on her face.

"Trust me, fat boy," She hissed out, standing straighter in defiance, "I'm the one girl you don't want to fuck with." Ed just scoffed as he turned around to lumber back towards camp, leaving Lyricka with a victorious smirk on her face until she heard a low whistle coming from the bushes. She turned in the direction to see Merle Dixon walking out.

"You gotta lot of spunk, Pochahontas." He said, his eyes taking her in like a she was a piece of meat. A scoff came out roughly from the back of Lyricka's throat as she started walking away, "Aw, don't be like that, sweetheart. Ole Merle here ain't gonna do anything to your sweet little ass." He said slyly, raising his arms out in defense, then added, "Unless you want me to."

"Ain't you got something else better to do?" Lyricka snapped, "Ain't got time to fool with you and fat boy bugging me." Lighting another cigarette, she sent the oldest Dixon a scowl of annoyance before she started back towards the camp, hearing him chuckle. The gravel under her feet popped as she trudged up the hill, Merle following her.

"What has Ole Merle done to you, sweet cheeks?" He drawled out, "Last time I remembered, it was nothing."

"Existing for one," She snapped and looked at him, adjusting the fish and pole on her shoulder, "and the last time I remembered, you were after Andrea and Amy." Merle chuckled again before allowing himself to stop briefly as Lyricka walked quicker up the hill so he could observe her from behind. Watching the muscles in her legs quiver after every step she took, Merle would purse his lips before shaking his head. His eyes following the curves of her calves all the way up to her toned thighs and stopping at her ass.

"Damn, she's fine." He said loud enough for Lyricka to hear, getting a disapproving grunt from her as she whipped her head back at him before making it to camp and handed off the batch of fish to Jacqui as she went to her tent in a huff.

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><p>After about an hour of cooling off, she finally came out of her tent noticing Lori going into the woods with a bucket in tow as she passed by; more like shoved by, the youngest Dixon brother in the shoulder causing the both of them to bristle up.<p>

"Watch where yer goin, bitch." he snapped, his face up in hers. Her eyes narrowed at his hostility before pursing her lips.

"Watch where I'm goin?" she repeated heatedly, "why don' you watch where yer going instead of being blown plum out yer mind?"

Daryl's faced turned bright red in anger, narrowing his eyes before his lips turned into a snarl, "Ye better watch that mouth of yer's, yer liable to mess up, ya uppity bitch." Daryl shot back causing everyone around the two loners to stop what they were doing and watch their spat. Lyricka smirked knowing she pushed a button, folding her arms in defiance.

"Ain't no man, gon' tell me what I can and can't do, Dixon." She barked out, narrowing her eyes more, "whatcha gon' do 'bout it, _boy?_" she hissed out, her palms balled into fists, ready to waylay him into the ground. That is until Merle made his grand appearance with a cigarette in his mouth and sneer plastered to his face.

"Oh, surly this little skank ain't pussy whippin' ya, Darlina." Merle piped in, blowing smoke in Lyricka's face, "and after all these years of me finally putting a pair of balls on ya and finally making ya a man," he paused to look at her and Daryl with a scoff, "This little thing's makin ya piss your pants."

"Mind yer business, Merle!" Daryl snapped at him, "This bitch ain't doin shit. Runnin her mouth, like all women do." Lyricka shot him a glare that could kill someone.

Merle chuckled, noticing her look, "Awe, whatcha gon' do, Squaw?" He said pushing her buttons, expecting nothing to happen. Without warning, Lyricka sent out a powerful right hook, connecting squarely to the eldest Dixon brother's jaw sending him to the ground with a grunt. Everyone gasped out in shock as their wide eyed looks went from the downed Dixon back to Lyricka, who was standing above him and glared at Daryl. The look on his face went from angry red to a brief look of shock before glaring back at the girl who had waylayed his brother.

"Nice shot, sugar britches." Merle commented from the ground, "next ain't gonna be so easy."

Shane, hearing the sound of skin connecting to skin, noticed the squabble between the Dixon brothers and Lyricka, came running over to where they were, his eyes narrowed at the three of them.

"What in the hell is goin' on?" he demanded as Lyricka looked back at him with a shrug as Merle got to his feet, holding his jaw for a moment and spit out a gob of blood that contained a tooth.

"Just a friendly scrap, _Mr. Bossman_." Merle said with a sarcastically, looking at the girl who had punched him with a dark look, "Nothin too serious, now be on yer way."

Shane looked at Lyricka, "Were they botherin' you?" he asked as she smiled sweetly.

"I can take care of myself, thank ya." She said as she sent warning glares towards the brothers as she walked off, Shane giving them warning glances as well before shaking his head at the maturity level of people these days and walked off towards where Lori went off in the woods.

Daryl looked at his brother, "Who got pussy whipped now, bro?" His brother sent him a dark look and slugged him in the shoulder.

"Mind yer mouth, boy."

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><p>Away from the scrap, Glenn came jogging up to her with a grin, "Nice shot, Rae."<p>

The girl smiled looking at her friend, "Why, thank ya, Glenn." They started walking towards the picnic table next to the RV, sitting down, looking at him.

"You shoulda seen Merle's face!" he said gleefully, "I've never seen someone look that funny, especially after you punching him. What did he do?"

Lyricka rolled her eyes digging out a cigarette, lit it up and shrugged, "What don't he do, Glenn? First I had Fat Boy aggravate me, then I had 'Ole Merle' look at me like I was a piece o' meat, and then baby brother, Darlina started up with his crap, so big brother had to jump in and got what he deserved."

Glenn smiled as he slung an arm around her shoulders, "I must say you're the first person here to stand up to them like you did." Lyricka let out a light laugh as Glenn shook her playfully, "You know, we've been friends for weeks now and I just now noticed your accent."

Lyricka laughed, "Nah. You know I ain't from here." She looked down flicking the ashes off her cigarette, "I grew up in 'bama, then after I graduated high school and came back from College, I moved up to West Virgina after Addison was born. Had a quiet place up in the mountains too. Wuddn't too bad there. "

"Do you still think that they're alive?" Glenn suddenly blurted out before he covered his mouth, "I'm sorry, Rae."

" 's alright, I guess." Lyricka replied as she took a draw, "I doubt they're alive."

"You can't be like that, Rae, you'll find your brothers and daughter. I'm sure of it." He said reassuringly.

A disheartened laugh came from her lips when she shook her head slightly, " 's been over a month, Glenn. If they were alive still, I'm sure they woulda figured this place out by now."

"Yeah, but you didn't know of this place until you fell of the cliff at the quarry." Glenn shot back with a smile. Nodding in agreement, she smiled a little more.

"Maybe they'll find us...I'd like to know something to know that they're alright, ya know?" she said, looking at her friend with a small glimmer of hope in her eyes. Suddenly something popped in her head, "Aye, you know where I can get any clothes?" she asked suddenly, "I've got maybe..." she hesitated for a moment in thought, "four pairs of clothes to my name. If you go on a supply run, let me know, I join ya."

Glenn nodded, not really liking the idea of his friend going with him, "You sure you want to go into Atlanta with me?"

Lyricka simply nodded her head, opening her mouth slightly to let the smoke billow out of her mouth before blowing it fully with a smile, "Better there and here with Merle and Fat Boy."

As if on cue, Shane walked up to the two friends, "Glenn, you think you can squeeze in a supply run? We're runnin real low on supplies. Take who you want to go with you or find volunteers."

Glenn's face paled slightly, "When?"

"Tomorrow."

Glenn blew out an exasperated sigh as he nodded, "Not gonna enjoy this, but alright."


	7. 7: Atlanta

**Hey guys, got Chapter 7 out. Figured I'd try to make up for lost time. **

**Let me know how this Chapter is and give me some suggestions. (: Thanks guys.**

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><p><em><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 7: Atlanta<strong>_

The next morning, everyone in camp was bustling around getting ready for Glenn's group to leave for Atlanta. Lyricka unzipped her tent to see a small bundle of white flowers. Smiling, she picked the small bundle up to smell them before she laid them on her cot and sat on a log, situated where she could watch the entire camp. Glenn was going over what the plan was with Shane while Morales was spending what he could with his family, Andrea was talking to; well, arguing with, Amy, T-Dog was getting a bag set up full of Dale's tools, Lyricka snickered as she was sharpening her knife while listening to Dale hound him about not liking to loan his things and that he better come back with them, Jacqui was talking amongst Carol and Lori getting her bag ready, then there was Lyricka. She sat by herself observing everyone in the camp. Her eyes scanned the people's faces as she kept sharpening her knife. Stopping briefly to feel the blade, she lightly brushed it over her arm, seeing that it shaved the hair on them easily. With a content smile, she closed it up placing it on her belt loop, moving onto her bow. Making sure that everything was alright and in order, she glanced up briefly to the feeling as if someone was watching her. Her eyes met with Daryl's as his blue eyes narrowed towards her.

"What'chu looking at, half-breed?" He snarled out.

Her eyes narrowed in response, "Certainly not you, asshole."

Shouldering his crossbow, he said nothing more to her as he walked into the woods. Lips pursed and blood boiling, her eyes watched him until he disappeared from her sight, blowing air out loudly, she shook her head at how he acted towards her. Never on this earth had she met someone who had no respect towards no one; especially her. If her brother, Brantley, had seen this, he would've tried his damnedest to stomp a mud hole in him. She was protective of her brothers and they were protective of her. Her heart tugged painfully wondering if they were alright. A voice in the back of her mind urged her to look while they were in Atlanta. Another thing come up to point was why Daryl was staring at her. _What the crap?_

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><p>Walking further into the forest fuming, he knew he had pissed Lyricka off. He didn't mean what he had said to her. Watching her picking up the bouquet of Cherokee Roses he had picked from a previous hunt made him content. Watching her smile over them caused a smirk to play at his lips. He didn't know why he felt that way or why he had even picked them, let alone why he felt like he should beat the asian boy till he couldn't walk every time he watched her embrace him. Muttering out curses, he shoved those thoughts out of his head and put his focus on hunting.<p>

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><p>"Hey, you ready?" Glenn's voice come out of nowhere breaking her from her thoughts about her brothers and Daryl's staring problem. Looking up at Glenn bewildered slightly, she nodded.<p>

"Yeah, let's get this show on the road." She replied. Finally she was going to be able to get away from the camp's top three most aggravating men alive. That was, until she heard a familiar hooping and cackling. "Oh god no." Lyricka groaned out seeing Merle Dixon strutting around with a high powered rifle in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and a cyniacle grin on his face as he walked around Lyricka.

"Looks like Ole Merle's got some company, don't I sugar britches?" He said with a grin and looked at Glenn, "we gonna do this or what chink?"

Lyricka glared at Glenn, "I was going to tell you. I didn't have a choice, Rae. I'm sorry." he said with a frown.

"He best stay away from me or you'll be losing one of our team, Glenn." she warned as her and him gathered up the rest of the group, heading towards Atlanta, "You know this is gonna end up bad." She added as Glenn looked to her and nodded knowingly.

"I hope not, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" he replied as Lyricka only nodded.

"By the way, thanks for the flowers." She said with a smile.

Glenn blinked as he kept stride with her and furrowed his brows in confusion, "What flowers?"

Lyricka looked at him with a small smile, "You know, those little white flowers? The Cherokee Roses that I found outside my tent."

Glenn shrugged, "I'm sorry Rae, I didn't get you any flowers. I didn't even pick them for my mom."

She shook her head a little bit as she shrugged, "Well whoever got them, knows the story behind them. And I figured that it was you, cause you're the only person who knows."

Glenn smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry Rae. Maybe it's someone else. I don't know anything about flowers."

She nodded, " 's alright, Glenn. I just figured it was you."

Later down the road, just as Lyricka had predicted, Merle was up to his usual diarrea of the mouth. It wasn't just projected at her, it went from Lyricka to Andrea, back to Lyricka back to Andrea, the occasional cussing at T-Dog or Glenn for interfering, and back to Andrea. "Now come on, sugar tits. Don't be that way, why don't me and you go someplace so I can show you some real southern hospitality?" Merle kept saying to Andrea. She'd give Lyricka an annoyed glance, which she mutually returned before sighing.

"Merle, do you have anything else better to do than to aggravate us all to death?" the blonde asked, her head bobbing slightly with every word she said.

"Well, how's 'bout you put that mouth to good use and make this trip better for Ole Merle, here?" He said snidely, recieving a disgusted look from all the women in the group. He looked at Glenn, "Why'd you have to bring all these whores wit you anyways? They're just gon' get in the way."

Glenn muttered to himself in silence as Merle carried on aggravating everyone. An hour into the hike to Atlanta, he finally stopped the group on the outskirts of town and looked at everyone. "I'm not used to a whole group going with me on supply runs. It's usually just me. I go in, I get out. Simple as that. I make the rules and you guys _have _to follow them. Alright? I need everyone here to have my back in case things get sketchy."

T-Dog, Jacqui, Andrea, Morales, and Lyricka all nodded in agreement, unlike Merle, who just rolled his eyes and chuckled his dumb chuckle.

"Ain't got no one's back. Nobody's gon' tell _me_ what to do!" He retorted causing Glenn to blow out an uneasy breath, looking at Lyricka for support. She put her hand reassuringly on his shoulder. There was no words needed to know what was said, so Glenn opened up a hole in the fence. Once everyone made it to the other side of the fence, Glenn and the group slowly made their way into the city.

"Rae," Glenn whispered, "Could you help me keep watch while we get supplies?"

She looked at her friend and nodded as she went up ahead, her bow at her side with an arrow ready. Glenn led the group cautiously through several stores, grabbing what they needed and putting it into their bags. Her eyes scanning the area around her carefully for any signs of movement. She then heard feet scraping the ground clumsily indicating a walker was making it's way down. Lyricka 'psst' to the group as they stopped what they were doing.

"What is it?" Glenn whispered as he slowly crept up to Lyricka for a look.

"Walker." Lyricka replied, "Just be low and be quiet...maybe it'll just pass us by." Glenn nodded as he signaled everyone else to be low. T-Dog slowly put a can of food into his bag, accidentally missing it and fell, making a racket. Everyone jumped, except Merle who couldn't shut his mouth causing the lone Walker to come into the store snarling and teetering around. Lyricka sprang up and shot, hitting the Walker in it's head as if fell with a thud. Carefully walking up to it, she put a foot on it's head as she pulled out the arrow with a sickening slurping sound. Andrea and Glenn shuddered at the sound as Lyricka looked back to them, "Is this all from this store?" Glenn looked around as everyone excluding Merle nodded and she stuck her head outside to make sure the coast was clear. Signaling with her hand, Glenn and the group made their way to a Pharmacy where Andrea and Jacqui picked through everything such as feminine hygine products, soaps, medicine, and whatnot.

"We're good," Andrea said as Glenn nodded.

"Alright, we're almost done." he said.

"This has been too easy." T-Dog said, "Way too easy."

"I agree sugar, but let's not jinx us, ok?" Jacqui added cautiously as Lyricka nodded in agreement. For all she knew, they could've run into a damn herd.

"So sugar britches," Merle started in, "You still up for that offer?"

"Not now, Dixon." Lyricka bit out, "Just, not now. Be quiet."

"No uppity bitch like you is gonna tell me what to do." Merle snapped back at her as she sent him a guick glare before seeing a department store building and pointed to the roof, "Let's go up there and see where we can get out at easier." Glenn nodded as he led everyone through another alleyway that Lyricka cleared out and opened the door. Entering into black, flashlights flickered on as she took the front of the pack scouting if the place was deemed safe. Taking out just one Walker, she made the motion to open the stairwell. Tiny windows illuminated it giving everyone a form of light as they made their way to the top of the building where Lyricka's trained ears heard a horse whinnying. Her eyes furrowed in confusion, "Why would a horse be in Atlanta of all things?" She spoke up getting curious glances from Morales and T-Dog.

"You gone crazy, girl." T-Dog said as she shook her head.

"No, I'm serious." She walked to the edge of the building to see a man on a horse getting attacked by a herd of walkers, as the horse went down, the guy scrambled under a tank, "Glenn, you reckon you can help the guy out?"

Glenn, who was watching the scene in the streets below, sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."


	8. 8: Officer Friendly

**Alrighty guys, go Chapter 7 out to make up again for lost time. Glad you guys liked my story, I hope to hear for more input.**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 8: Officer Friendly<strong>

Staring down at the scene, Glenn and Lyricka looked at each other as she handed him the walkie, "Find the safest spot for me to meet the guy." Lyricka nodded, going across the the top of the building to see a blocked off alleyway on the left side of the tank, "Glenn, here. It's maybe 50 yards for the guy, but ya ain't got much time to do this," Lyricka replied as Glenn glanced down the side of the building where a ladder started up it, branched off to a platform, and then scaled the rest of the way up. Lyricka looked over to the tank to see the hoarde of Walkers that swarmed the tank, give up on the guy inside and went to the horse, "Do it now whyile they're preoccupied to the horse at the moment."

Glenn nodded as he took off his hat, running a hand through his hair with a deep breath, "Alright, T-Dog, Morales, gear up and wait for my call. Wait in the basement where we came in for back up." T-Dog and Morales nodded their heads as they went down the basement, leaving Jacqui, Lyricka, Andrea, and Merle on the rooftops.

"Thanks to that guy, we're stuck!" Andrea droned out furiously, her brow furrowed in her agitation at the guy's recklessness, Lyricka stared at the swarm of Walkers knowing that they were trapped.

Thank you Captain Obvious

, Lyricka mused in her head, "We'll follow T-Dog and Morales downstairs in case something happens, alright?" Glenn nodded, as Merle stood the on edge of the building hooping and a hollering at them like a crazed fool making Lyricka uneasy. _Why did this idiot go with us?_

Shaking her head, her, Jacqui, Andrea and Glenn made their way to the basement where T-Dog and Morales found themselves some riot armor causing Lyricka to give them a confused look, only to shake her head forgetting the question. Glenn started talking to the man in the tank as he headed out the back door. Soon after, gun shots rang out in the streets causing a pang of dread clench her chest. "Glenn, hurry yer ass up." Lyricka muttered as everyone around her nodded nervously.

A few minutes ticked by as the walkie buzzed to life, "I'm back. Got a guest. There's about four geeks in the alley." Glenn panted out as Lyricka got next to the door, "Get ready, boys." The two men grabbed ahold of their bats as she slammed the door open seeing Glenn and the man come running as two Walkers stumbled towards them. T-Dog and Morales ran out beating them with the bats as the two came in breathing heavily, "Come on!" Lyricka hollered out as they stopped battering the two Walkers and ran back in as Lyricka slammed the door shut, locking it.

A loud crash caused her to spring around as Andrea slammed him into some boxes, "You son of a bitch, I outta kill you!" she snarled out, pointing her gun.

"Chill out Andrea, back off." Morales said in his defense, panting slightly.

"Come on, ease up." Jacqui quipped, standing next to Lyricka uneasily.

"Ease up, you're kidding me ,right?" Andrea bit out in disbelief, "We're dead because of this stupid asshole."

"Andrea," Morales started, looking at the man, "I said back the hell off. Or pull the trigger." He said situating his back pack, Glenn stood next to Jacqui and Lyricka with fear written on his face. Lyricka held out a grimy hand as he took it for reassurance.

Andrea backed off , shaking her head with tears in her eyes, "We're dead. All of us. Because of you." Lyricka looked at the man. Obviously he was a cop from Lincoln County. And something clicked in her head, _maybe Shane knows him..._

The guy looked to Glenn, "I don't understand..."

Morales grabbed him by the arm and spun him around walking through the department store to the front where the doors are, "Look, we came to the city to scavage for supplies. You know the key for scavaging is? Surviving. You know the key for surviving? Sneaking in and out, tip toeing, not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."

The man looked at the door in shock as T-Dog stood on the other side of him fuming, "Every geek from miles around heard you popping off rounds."

"And you just rang the dinner bell." Andrea added, staring at the swarm of walkers banging on the glass doors.

"Got the picture now?" Morales finished as Lyricka stared at the dead banging on the doors hungrily. Then her eyes went to a walker that had picked up a large rock and started towards the doors, banging it against the already cracked glass.

"Shit." She muttered out as everyone jumped back in fright. Andrea looked at the cop, "What where you doing out there anyways?"

The cop looked at her, "Trying to flag the helicopter." Lyricka coughed roughly to prevent her from bursting out in laughter.

"Man, a _helicopter_?" T-Dog said unbelievingly, "There ain't do damn helicopter."

"You were probably chasing a hallucination." Jacqui said, "Maybe you were just imaging things."

Stiffening, the man gave her a cool look, "I _saw_ it."

Lyricka looked to T-Dog, "Aye, T-Dog, why don' you try that CB and get ahold of the others?"

"Others? The refugee center?" the guy asked as T-Dog checked it.

"Yeah, the refugee center. They got biscuits waitin' in the oven for us." Jacqui replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"No signal." T-Dog replied looking at them, "Maybe the roof." Then all of a sudden a shot fired causing everyone, including Lyricka to jump and look up.

"Dixon." Lyricka growled out as everyone tore up the stairwell to the roof, hearing a few more shots go off as Morales burst through the door, "Hey Dixon, are you crazy?!"

Merle laughed as he kept firing his gun and turned looking at everyone, "Aye, you outta be more polite to a man with a gun. Huh?" he said as he jumped off the ledge back onto the roof, "Order of common sense."

"Man, you're wasting bullets we ain't even got, man!" T-Dog yelled out as he jumped from the catwalk, chastizing the redneck, "And you're bringing more down on our ass, man Just chill." Merle looked him up and down with a cocky smirk, sizing him up.

"Aye, it's bad 'nough I got this Taco Bender ridin' up my ass all day, and now I'm taking orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day." He replied, cocking his head slightly.

T-Dog looked like he'd been slapped and looked at him in disbelief, "That'll be the day?" He asked, "You got somethin' you wanna tell me?"

Morales looked at T-Dog, "Hey T-Dog, man, just leave it. It ain't worth it." He said trying to reason with him but T-Dog raised his hand up to silence him and looked back at the Dixon, "Now, Merle, relax. Ok? We got enough trouble to worry about."

The guy looked to Glenn as he shook his head and hands guesturing him to hush.

"You wanna know the day?" Merle asked T-Dog as he got closer to him

"Yeah."

"I'll tell ya the day, Mr. _Yo._" Merle scoffed, exaggerating leaning his back and extending his arms, "It's the day I take orders from a Nigger."

"Mother fu-" T-Dog spat out in anger as he swung at Merle, who dodged it and hit him with the butt of his rifle, sending T-Dog backwards. Lyricka's blood started boiling the instant Merle uttered the racial slur to T-Dog. In West Virginia, right before the apocalypse has begun, she remembered someone shouting to her, "Go back to the reservation, Squanto." Her hands balled into fists, watching the scene before her. The whole group gasped as T-Dog fell to the ground, shouting for Merle to calm down or back off. The cop jumped up the catwalk towards Merle as he got a few punches in on T-Dog before shoving Morales away from him, then punching the cop, toppling him over a pipe. As he punched T-Dog again. Glenn ran towards the brawl then slowed down as Merle slammed T-Dog into the pipe, busting his lip and nose on them and falling to the ground.

"Dixon stop!" Andrea cried out over everyone's shouts, as Merle kicked him while he was still down. Lyricka ran up to him as she landed a punch to the back of his head, causing him to stumble and turned facing her. Everyone's eyes widened in fear of what he'd do to her.

"You need to quit, Dixon." Lyricka growled out, her eyes burning in anger as Merle straightened up somewhat and walked towards her.

"Oh lookie here," Merle started, "Pochahontas here want's to run her mouth like the rest of them. What'd I tell ya last time? The next time ain't gon' be easy." Her head whipped back from the force of Merle's blow, as the burning sensation on her cheek flared to life, he then grabbed her by the hair whipping it back roughly before whispering in her ear while looking at everyone, "now be a good little Injun and do as you're told."

"Go ta Hell." She spat out as he shoved her to the ground going back over to T-Dog and punched him before climbing on top of him pulling out his pistol. Glenn and Morales helped Lyricka up and away from the brawl. She looked at T-Dog teary eyed, not knowing the large cut on her hand until she balled her hand up to see it. Looking down she heard Merle spit on T-Dog and yelled.

"Yeah, alright!" He said as he got up, "We're gon' have ourselves a little, Pow-Wow. Huh? Talk about, who's in charge. I vote me, anybody else?!"

Glenn, Andrea, and Jacqui helped pull T-Dog up as Lyricka glared at Merle. Her face was hot from the slap, spitting, she tasted blood. Her hand throbbing, she looked towards Morales and then to the rest of them, "Democracy time, ya'll. Show a hands, huh? All in favor? Come on." Jacqui ran to the other side of T-Dog as Lyricka watched Merle raise his hand, waiting for everyone else. "Let's see 'em." Merle quipped as Morales slowly raised his. Lyricka groaned, "Morales, really?" Then she looked over for support to slowly see Jacqui, Andrea, and Glenn. Her mouth just about fell to the ground. "Fuckin' seriously?" she bit out as Merle laughed at her, "Guess that means, I'm the boss. Anybody else? Hm? Anybody?"

Her eyes flickered to the cop behind him, "Yeah, me." Merle turned around as the cop pistol whipped him to the ground, hand cuffing him to a fixture on a pipe. Grunting, the cop picked Merle up to face him.

"Who the hell are you, man?" Merle said grunting. The cop go face to face with him, "Officer Friendly." Getting off Merle, he grabbed his pistol and took the bullet out of the chamber and caught the flying bullet, "Listen Merle, things are gonna be different. There are no Niggers anymore. No dumb as shit, inbred white trash fools, either. Only dark meat, and white. There's us and there's the dead. We survive this by pulling together; not apart."

Merle rolled his eyes before looking at him, "Fuck you, man."

"I can see you making a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well fuck you twice." Merle hissed out.

"You better be polite to a man with a gun," Officer Friendly said repeating Merle's words, "It's only common sense."

"You wouldn't, you're a cop." Merle said.

"All I am anymore is a man, looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that, is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about it." Searching Merle before he got up, he found a vile, raising Lyricka's brows.

"Doesn't surprise me." She muttered out, crossing her arms.

Officer Friendly looked at Merle closely, "You got some on your nose." then flicked it causing her to laugh quietly as the cop stood up.

Laughing, Merle looked at him, "Whaya gon' do? Arrest me?" Quickly his demeanor changed from cocky to angry as Officer Friendly slung the vile over the edge of the building, "Hey! That's my stuff! Once I get loose, you better pray!"

Lingering back with T-Dog, Jacqui, Andrea, and Glenn, she watched as Morales followed Officer Friendly to the other side of the roof and talked to him.

"You alright?" she heard Glenn ask as she turned her head to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I suppose." she replied and looked to T-Dog.

"You didn't have to do that, girl." he said as she shrugged.

"Felt like I needed to. Heard stuff like that way too many times where I lived." she said as he eyed her hand, seeing blooding dripping off her fingers.

"Your hand." Andrea started to say as Lyricka looked at it, "I'll be fine. It's just a cut."

"That'll get infected." Jacqui said opening her bag and got out a bottle of alcohol and gauze. Lyricka rolled her eyes a little bit before sitting down next to her holding her hand out. Flinching and sucking air through her teeth at the bite of pain from the alcohol, she inhaled deeply to ignore it and then let her bandage it up, "There, all done." Looking at her stiff hand, she nodded thanks before getting up and passed a cussing Merle.

"Welcome to the big city." she caught Morales telling Officer Friendly. The three of them looked down towards a construction sight as thunder cracked off in the distance and the streets filled with Walkers.

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><p><strong>FanFicGirl10-<strong>Awe, thanks. I try my best to keep her and everyone else in character. It's been a while for me to catch up on this since I've moved out on my own.

**watergoddesskasey-**Thanks! Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it. (:


	9. 9: Plans

**Alrighty guys, Chapter 9 is out! :D**

**Just want to remind everyone, I would really love to hear some input. Maybe give me some tips on how I can make this story much better for me and everyone who reads this! Let me know stuff, peeps! R&R, please! (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep To the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 9: Plans<strong>

The moans and banging of the Walkers bugged Lyricka to no end as she looked down at the streets with Andrea and Jacqui, "God, it's like Times Square down there." Andrea said.

"How's that signal?" Morales asked from behind her, her eyes flickered towards T-Dog as he was fiddling with the walkie talkie.

"It's like Dixon's brain, weak." he replied causing a smirk to play at Lyricka's lips as she looked over her shoulder towards the chained up redneck who in return to T-Dog's remark, flipped them both off.

Morales sighed, "Keep trying."

"What? There's nothing they can do." Andrea mused, looking at him, "Not a damn thing." She stood away from the ledge as she turned away.

"We've got some people on the outside of the city is all." Morales explained to Officer Friendly, "There's no refugee center-that's a pipe dream." Lyricka's jaw ticked hearing it again. Her mind wandered to her brother's, Luke and Brantley. _Where they alright?_ Turning around to see Andrea folding up something in her pack, she kneeled down to help her gather everything surrounding it.

"She's right, we're on our own." Officer Friendly finally concluded, "It's up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that." Merle snorted out, "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." He looked over to Andrea, "Ain't that right, sugar tits?" Andrea gave him a dark look along with Lyricka, Officer Friendly and Morales before turning away, "Aye, honey buns, why don't you get me out of these cuffs, go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyways."

Andrea rolled her eyes zipping up her pack, "I'd rather."

"Figured as much." Merle concluded after getting the cold shoulder from Andrea, he turned his attention to Lyricka, "What bout you, Pochahontas? Wanna take Ole Merle's offer?"

She looked up at Merle with a cold look, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear as she lifted up her bandaged hand, pointing to the left side of her face and lip, "After what ya done? No way in hell. Not even if ya didn't hit me, I still wouldn't. God knows what's touched you and what ain't." Officer Friendly looked at her with amusement playing on his face along with T-Dog, Jacqui, and Glenn. Merle raised his hand in a way to make up, "Now come on, Sacagawea, I didn't mean nothing by that. Just a little Lover's quarrel 's what that was."

Pursing her lips and getting up, putting her pack on one shoulder, she looked at him with a hand on her hip, "Not in a million years, Dixon."

"Well fuck you too, cunt!" Merle spat out, then composed himself again, "I didn't mean that, sweet cheeks." He chuckled out as she turned away from him and walked over to Glenn and sat beside him.

"The streets aren't safe." Officer Friendly muttered as they continued to survey the streets.

"That's an understatement," Morales replied as he turned to him.

"What about underground?" he asked, "The sewers."

"Oh man," Morales said turning towards Glenn and Lyricka, "Hey Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

Getting up, Glenn walked/jogged across the catwalk over to the other side of the building and peeked over before turning and jogging back over, "No, they must be in the streets where the Geeks are."

"Maybe not," Jacqui started in, "Old buildings like this, built in the 20's, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers incase of a flood. Down in the sub-basement."

Lyricka's brows raised in amasement, "How do you know that?"

She looked to her, "That's my job..._was_. I worked in the zoning office" Officer Friendly turned around as everyone except T-Dog made their way into the basement of the building. Circling around a large hole with a ladder climing down into it, Gleenn shined his flashlight down.

"This is it?" Lyricka asked, "Ya sure?"

"I really scoped this place out the last time I was here, this is the only thing in the building that goes down." Glenn replied hesitantly, "but i've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" Everyone besides Lyricka looked at him, silently volunteering him to go down. Lyricka furrowed her brows, "Not right." She muttered under her breath upon seeing Glenn's face paling slightly, "Oh. Great." she heard his response.

"We'll be right behind you," Andrea said, trying to ease the situation.

"No, you won't." Glenn confirmed, "Not you."

"What? Why not me?" Andrea asked, getting heated up, "You think I can't?"

Glenn mumbled something until Lyricka put a hand on his shoulder, "Speak yer mind, Glenn."

Getting the encouragement from his friend, he closed his eyes inhaling deeply, "Look, until now, I came here by myself. In and out. Grab a few things, no problems. The first time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense." He looked at everyone then to the hole, "If you want me to go down this hole, fine. But if only we do it my way." Officer Friendly, Lyricka, and Andrea nodded their heads, "It's pretty tight down there. If I run into something, I'm going to have to get out quick. I don't need you all to get jammed up behind me and get me killed. I'll take _one_ person." Officer Friendly started to say something until Glenn held up his hand, "_Not_, you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'll feel better with you watching the doors, covering our ass." Lyricka looked at him, "Lyricka, I know what you can do also, that, and I know you need to gather some more stuff, so you'll be with him." He looked at Andrea, "You've got the other gun, so you can go with them." She nodded as he looked at Morales, "You're my wing man. Jacqui stays here. Something happens, yell down to us. Get us back up here in a hurry."

Jacqui nodded, "Okay."

Officer Friendly looked at the rest of the group, "Okay, everybody knows their job." He patted Glenn on the back, as Glenn nodded and headed down the ladder with Morales. Lyricka watched them warily as they headed into the tunnel, Andrea motioned for her to go with her and Officer Friendly. Looking back down to see Morales turning around to follow Glenn, she turned to follow Andrea back up into the store.

The sounds of banging and growling welcomed her, Andrea, and Officer Friendly as she nodded to Andrea, "I'm gonna grab some clothes, alright? I virtually have none and since the night's are getting colder, 's kinda a necessity. I'll still be keepin' watch."

Andrea and Officer Friendly looked at her and nodded, "Get what you need."

Moving into different clothes racks, she plucked up several pairs of jeans, sweatpants, underwear, bras, shirts, and two jackets before pulling them off the hangers and folding them, the cracking glass making her move even faster as she shoved them into the bag. Her eyes moving to the doors every few seconds before she glanced towards Andrea and the cop moving slowly around the store, "Sorry for the gun in your face." She apologized as he looked back at her.

"People do things when they're afraid." He replied understandingly, weaving through the aisle of clothes.

"Not that it was entirely justified. You did get us into this." She said, looking back at him from the jewelry counter.

"If I get you all out of here, will it make up for it?" He asked as she looked at him with a shrug.

"No. But it'll be a start."

Lyricka finally zipping up the full backpack, stood up to see the cop looking at the door, "Lovely sight, ain't it?" She mused hearing the dead's skin sqeaking against the glass, their faces against it biting. He looked at her silently, "You alright?"

"'bout what?" She asked with a cocked head. He nodded to her hand and face; that was already brusing somewhat, "This?" She said lifting up her hand, "It's nothin'. Been worse before. Had three younger brothers." She smiled somewhat, "Gotta be tough to handle three wild asses like them." And she frowned slightly, "Times like this makes me wish I wasn't so hard of 'em."

"I know what you mean." He replied as he turned back to Andrea who was looking at a necklace, "Next time, remove the safety first, or you can't shoot otherwise."

Andrea looked at him for a moment as Lyricka turned around to look at a piece of clothing, trying to ignore their conversation, but ended up listening anyways.

"Is that your gun?" he asked

"It was a gift, why?" Andrea answered as his footsteps indicated he was walking towards her. Apparently he was showing her how to turn the safety on, causing a small inaudiable chuckle to come from the back of Lyricka's throat.

"The red dot means it's ready to fire." He commented, "When you have the occasion to use it."

"Good to know." Andrea replied.

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><p>Up on the rooftop, T-Dog sat under the shade of the concrete wall of the roof trying to get ahold of someone on the radio, "Anyone out there?" He paused, growing tired, "Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear someone's voice cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."<p>

Merle started chuckling, "Yeah, well that makes two of us. Why don't you knock that crap off? You're givin me a headache boy." He spit onto the ground as T-Dog checked the radio again.

"Why don't you pull your head out'your ass, maybe you're headache'll go away." T-Dog countered as Merle laughed slightly, "Have some positivity for a change, damn."

"Tell you what, you get me out of these cuffs and I'll be all Sammy Sunshine Positive for ya." He paused briefly before looking over to the bag where Dale's stuff was at, "Aye, see that hacksaw in that toolbag? Get if for me. Hm? Make it worth yer while. Get me outta this thing." He jerked his cuffed hand.

T-Dog looked at him unsure, "So you can beat my ass again? Call me, nigger some more?"

"Awe, don't take it personal. It's just that, your kind and my kind ain't supposed to mix, is all. Don't mean we can't work together, parlay as long as there's some mutual gang involved." Merle looked back over to the hacksaw, "So, 'bout that hacksaw."

"I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too, so you can shoot that cop when he come back up, huh?" T-Dog asked sarcastically as he looked Merle in the eyes. Merle smirked.

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><p>Down in the tunnels, Glenn and Morales made it to the sewer tunnel.<p>

"Yeah, we got ourself a sewer tunnel. Jacqui was right." Morales said as Glenn looked at the gated off tunnel.

"Can we cut through it?" he asked.

"If we had a blow torch, a half a day. Dale's hacksaw won't do it." Morales replied as a squishing sound alerted them. Casting the light from their flashlights towards the sound, they came upon a lone walker eating a rat. Turning around, the bloody thing lunged towards them, the grate stopping the walker from getting them. They jumped back as it's arm reached for them, a squalling growl coming from it as it clenched the body of the rat in it's other hand. Glenn whimpered slightly as they backed up.

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><p>In the store, Andrea looked at a mermaid necklace catching the cop's attention.<p>

"See something you like?" he asked as she smiled, her fingers running over the necklace tenderly.

"Not me," She replied, "I know someone who would though." She paused to look at him with a smile, "My sister. She's such a kid in some ways. Unicorns, dragons; she's into all that stuff. Mermaids, they rule. She loves mermaids."

"Why not take it?" He asked

"There's a cop staring at me." Andrea replied with a smirk as he looked away with a smile before looking back at her, "Would it be considered looting?" She asked.

"I don't think those rules apply anymore. Do you?"

Andrea took the necklace off the mannikin. Lyricka watched the Walkers as the sound of glass shattering caused her to jump, her pistol drawn.

"Guys, sorry to interrupt ya'll conversation." She said as they turned towards the doors. All three of them shattered as the group of walkers smashed their way into the inner set of doors. Her heart started to beat a million miles an hour. The cop ran to her side with his gun drawn, along with Andrea. Morales, Glenn, and Jacqui came running in.

"What did you find down there?" He asked

"Not a way out." Morales replied, looking at the doors.

"We need to find a way." Lyricka bit out, her heart in her ears. The cop nodded as he directed them back up onto the rooftop, Lyricka handed him the binoculars.

Scoping out the construction sight down the street from the building, he pointed towards the trucks, "The construction sight, they always keeps keys on sight." Morales peeked through before looking down the street.

"You'll never make it past the walkers."

The cop looked at Glenn, "You got me out of that tank."

"Yeah, but they were eating. They were distracted." He replied, looking at him.

"Can we distract them again?" he asked

"Right, listen to him." Merle started in, "He's onto somethin, diversion. Like on Hogan's Heros."

Lyricka rolled her eyes, "Give it a rest, Dixon."

"They're drawn by sound right?"

"Yeah, like dogs." Glenn said, "They hear sounds, they come."

"What else?"

"Aside if they hear you, they see you, smell you. If they catch you, they eat you." Morales added.

"They can tell us by smell?" Officer Friendly asked.

Lyricka scoffed slightly looking at him, "Can't you? They smell dead, we don't. 's pretty distinct."

* * *

><p>The cop grabbed everyone some rubber gloves as he rushed over to get coats.<p>

"If bad ideas were an Olympic Event, this one would take the gold." Glenn mused uneasily.

"He's right, just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through." Morales said as he stood in front of him.

"How much time?" He asked, "They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold them forever."

Glenn looked at Lyricka uneasily as they looked at their stuff in their hands. Going downstairs, her and the cop run out into the alley as they grabbed the dead Walker, Glenn guarding the door with a bat as they ran back into the building.

All of them stood in a circle around the corpse, Lyricka's nose burning with the smell of rotting flesh. The cop looked around at everyone as he put the face cover over his face as he took a crowbar and smashed the emergeny case that contained a hatchet. Walking around the group to the opening, he stood over the corpse. Taking a few steps back, he raised the hatchet getting ready to swing making Glenn cringe and step back. The cop stopped shortly, grabbing the face cover and putting it to the ground with the hatchet and stood over the body, kneeling down, he checked the guy's wallet.

"Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born 1979." He reached Glenn the license, "He had twenty eight dollars in his pocket when he died. And a picture of a pretty girl." He paused to read what was on the back of the picture, "With love, from Rachael. He used to be like us. Worrying about bills, the rent, the superbowl. If I ever find my family, I'm going to tell them about Wayne." Everyone stood silent as he placed the wallet back into the dead man's pocket. Grabbing the face cover and hatchet again, Glenn piped in, "One more thing, he was an organ donor."

The cop raised the hatchet over his head and swung it, cutting into the corpse. With a sickening crunch everyone, including Lyricka turned and gagged. Raising the hatchet again, he chopped the guy's arm off and then leg, dragging it towards him and kept hacking into the body.

"God, the smell." Lyricka groaned out, holding her nose under her shirt as Glenn and Andrea turned around.

Officer Friendly finally stopped chopping as he handed Morales his things, "Keep chopping."

The priceless look on Morales' face would've made Lyricka smile, but smiling wasn't in her agenda today. Her stomach churned dangerously indicating she was going to throw up; and it took a lot for her to throw up.

"Ohhhh, I'm so gonna hurl." Glenn moaned out as Morales swung the hatchet into the walker's abdomen.

"Later." The cop said as he kept chopping, "Everyone got gloves? Don't get any blood on your skin or in your eyes. Kneeling down to pick up the gore, everyone followed suit. Cold, slimy intestines squished between her hands as she brought it up to Glenn and frowned, "Sorry, lil buddy."

"This is so bad!" Glenn said as she smeared blood and gore over him.

"Think of something happy. Like puppies and kittens." The cop replied, not too happy about this decision either.

"Dead puppies and kittens." T-Dog mused as Glenn groaned and turned, throwing up.

"That is just evil, what is wrong with you?" Andrea and Lyricka said at the same time

"Next time, just let the cracka beat his ass." Jacqui quipped sending him a dark look, continuing to smear blood on the cop.

"This sucks!" Glenn whined out, his hands on his knees for support. Lyricka then grabbed a foot with ligaments still attached and placed it over Glenn's head while Andrea placed intestines around his need as well.

"We smell like them?" He asked

"Oh yeah." Andrea replied, "Glenn." He looked up at her, "Here, just in case." She slowly placed her gun in the front of his pants.

"We make it back, be ready." The cop instructed.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asked.

The cop reached into his pocket and handed him the key as he backed up and walked back up the stairs, "Hand me the axe." Morales hesitiantly handed him it, "We need more guts." He swung the axe again causing everyone to make a sound of disapproval.

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><p><strong>FanFicGirl10-<strong>Yess! I wanted her to have some kind of similarites between everyone, but not too much. I just don't want Lyricka to seem like a Mary Sue or anything. Like, for example, she can do anything and everything with ease. I don't want that. Been through stuff like that in a previous story, I want this one to be better than the others I've got. haha.


	10. 10: Morals

**Hi guys! Sorry for the wait, I've been at my dad's and he doesn't have internet so I've been working on this chapter whenever I come to my grandma's house. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please give me some tips and what not so I can make this story a lot more enjoyable to you guys and myself. I'm open to ya'll's advice! (:  
>R&amp;R, please!<strong>

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 10: Morals<strong>

After everyone had smeared gore and entrails on the cop and Glenn, they slowly made their way outside. Morales closed the door tightly as the group wasted no time in getting the blood drenched coats and gloves off, before making their way up to the rooftop.

Morales swung the door open startling Merle, "Hey, what's happening, man?" He asked as Morales ran past him to the edge of the building.

"Hey, T-Dog, turn on the CB." Morales said in a hurry as everyone joined him.

"Hey, come on! Talk me, ya'll!" Merle said, struggling against the cuff.

"Base camp, this is T-Dog, anyone hear me?" T-Dog called out on the radio as Morales looked through the binoculars, "Does anyone out there hear me?"

"There!" He said, pointing out Glenn and the cop. Lyricka watched them shuffle cautiously past numerous Walkers as thunder cracked across the sky.

"That asshole's out there with the handcuff keys?" Merle spat out as T-Dog looked at him and pulled out the key, dangling it tentatively in front of Merle.

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><p>Back at camp, Dale and Jim work on the RV as Amy paces nervously around the CB radio.<p>

"It's late, they should've been back by now." She said impatiently.

Dale paused and looked at her, "Worrying won't make it better." Rolling her eyes, she continued to pace while everyone around the camp hung clothes. Lori took down some of the clean laundry, noticing Shane and Carl talking amongst each other, mostly about tying knots.

The CB radio crackled to life with T-Dog's voice, _Hello, base camp. Can anybody out there hear me? Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?_

Dale snatched up the radio, "Hello? Hello? Signal's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat."

_Shane, is that you?_ T-Dog asked on the radio.

Lori and everyone stood at the RV looking up at Dale, "Is that them?" she asked as Dale held up a finger, trying to find better signal.

_We're trapped in the department store._ T-Dog said before the radio garbled out.

"They said they're trapped?" Shane asked as everyone shifted around nervously at the news.

_Geeks are everywhere. There's hundreds of them. We're surrounded._ T-Dog continued to say as the radio garbled it out again.

"T-Dog repeat that last." Dale said until the radio just sent out garbled static. Amy looked up at Dale with worry written all over her face while Shane stood with his back to the RV, scratching his head.

"He said the department store." Lori said, looking at Shane.

"I heard it too," Dale said.

"There's no way." Shane said looking at Lori, "We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group, ya'll know that."

"So what? We're just going to leave her there?" Amy spat out in anger

"Amy, I know that," Shane said calmly, "this is not easy."

"She volunteered to _go_." Amy argued, " To help the rest of us"

"I know. And she knew the risks with it also." Shane replied, "So she's trapped. She's gone. You're just going to have to get used to it. There's nothing we can do."

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch!" Amy spat out as she stormed away in anger. Shane stood there, biting his tongue as he looked over to Lori who nodded her head as she ran to follow Amy.

"Amy!" She called out as Shane looked at Carl and just ruffled his hair.

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><p>Cautiously shuffling past the hundreds of Walkers in the street, Rick and Glenn made the painstakingly slow pace in the heat. A female walker with a grizzled face and stringy red hair wandered into their faces before shuffling by. Glenn gave Rick a nervous look as another walker shuffled between them.<p>

"It's going to work." He spoke quietly through gritted teeth.

"Don't draw attention." Rick replied through gritted teeth as another female walker shuffled up to Glenn, staring at him blindly. Thunder cracked across the sky.

Up on the rooftop, Morales, Jacqui, Andrea, and Lyricka watched the two of them slowly get closer and closer to the construction site. Andrea watched them briefly through the binoculars before handing them to Morales until thunder clashed across the sky. Looking up at the sky, a fat drop of rain landed on her forehead as she looked at Morales then down to the guys.

Rain started falling as Glenn and Rick continued to walk towards the construction site. The rain started to wash away the blood on their coats as the walkers walked past them.

"It's a cloudburst." Morales said looking up at the sky, "We get them all the time. Should go by real quick."

As the rain continued to fall, the walkers started to catch on to them. They started to get closer, their heads swiveling around sniffing out their scents.

"The smell's washing out." Glenn said as the herd of Walkers ventured closer, "Isn't it?"

"Don't worry about it." Rick said as another one walked by him, then turned snarling and lunged towards him. Rick countered swinging the axe and nailing the walker in the head. Jerking it out, he looked at Glenn, "Run!" Glenn wasted no time in following Rick. The both of them made a mad dash to the fenced off construction site. Climbing over the fence, Glenn ran to the wall that contained the keys and finding the right key.

"Rick!" He yelled out as he slung the keys to him. Catching them, he ran to the driver's side of the van and climbed in followed by Glenn as they sped away.

Morales, who was watching them speed away sat the binoculars down.

"They're leaving us." Andrea said in disbelief.

"No, no, no." Morales said as Lyricka watched them bust through the fence and go onto the interstate.

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><p>"They're leaving us!" Andrea screeched out as Lyricka shook her head.<p>

"They ain't gonna leave us!" Lyricka bit out, "They're probably coming up with something to help us."

"No, they won't come back." Andrea said with tears forming in her eyes. Lyricka shook her head at Andrea's stupidity. She waved her hand at her, ignoring her comments.

_Rick's going to roll up the front of the store, go to the loading docks facing the streets. Be there._ Glenn's voice crackled over ther radio.

"Come on! Let's go, let's go!" Morales shouted as everyone gathered up their packs.

"Hey, you can't leave me here!" Merle shouted as the group started their way to the door. Lyricka and T-Dog stopped and looked at him, "Andrea, Morales! Come on, man!" He looked at them, "Lyricka, sweetheart, help me out!" Lyricka looked to T-Dog.

"Go on," she said impatiently as he nodded.

"Come on, T-Dog! You can't leave me here like this!" Merle shouted out, "Come on, man!"

As the van came screeching around the corner, the sirens started to grow distant.

Merle looked at the both of them with pleading eyes, "Don't leave me here, man!"

Lyricka looked at T-Dog, "Come on, we ain't got much time." T-Dog ran over to him and ended up tripping and falling. Her heart stopped briefly as all three of them saw the key fly to a drainage pipe and go into it. Lyricka's hand flew up to her head as her jaw opened in disbelief. T-Dog stared where the key had fallen causing Merle to start cursing him, "You fucking idiot! You dropped the damned key!"

"Dog, we need to go!" She said as she sent Merle an apologetic look, "Merle, I dunno what to do. We'll come back, man. I promise."

Merle shook his head, "No, don't leave me here! Look missy, I'm sorry bout what I said earlier. We can work somethin' out."

Shaking her head, she looked at T-Dog nervously, "T-Dog, we ain't got a whole lot of time. I'm so sorry Merle, I'll come back here myself if I have to. I'm sorry, man."

Merle's face turned red in rage, "Don't you fucking leave me here you fucking cunt! When I get loose so help me, you'll regret it! That goes for you too, Nigger!" Lyricka shook her head as she ran down the stairs missing steps every now and then. This clumsiness caught up with her as she made it to the last couple steps when she felt her leg give out. Pain bit at her ankle as she looked down at it to see it swell up almost instantly. Punching the ground, she hastily got up and started limping until T-Dog caught up with her and helped her through the store to the loading docks.

"Thanks." She gritted out as he nodded as they both ran/limped down the stairs again to the others.

"Go, go, go!" T-Dog yelled out as he let go of Lyricka to help pull up the door to meet Officer Friendly reaching out for her.

"Come on, girl." He said as she grabbed his hand, pulling her up and made it to the front seat. Everyone else scrambled to get in as T-Dog slammed the door to the back of the van. Officer Friendly finally introduced himself as Rick Grimes. She was listening to his story of what happened to him and how he got here, then changing the subject, he glanced behind him and asked if everyone was here.

Looking around, Lyricka saw T-Dog's sullen look as his gaze met hers, "I lost the damn key."

"We need to go back for him." Lyricka quipped as everyone's shocked faces looked at her.

"What? After what he did to you?" Andrea blurted out in disbelief, "There's no way in hell!"

"I know! But it don't seem right just leaving a human being chained up to the roof like an animal." Lyricka bit out with her brow furrowed in aggravation, " 's against my morals."

"I don't think _morals_ apply anymore." Andrea quipped until she thought for a moment, "Where's Glenn?"


	11. 11: Happy Ending

**Hi guys, I'm also gonna come out with another chapter! I don't know how long it's going to be till I make another one, so this is one is going to be one for the lighter note! I hope you guys enjoy! Let me know how this one is. I love to hear your feedback!**

**R&R! (:**

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><p><em>Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 11: Happy Ending<em>

Already, she was dreading what the youngest Dixon brother would do upon hearing about Merle. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him, no matter what had happened. Losing both of her brothers and daughter during the chaos of Atlanta, her heart went out to him. A lone tear fell onto her lap upon thinking about them. Though everyone was talking amongst themselves, Rick put a reassuring hand on Lyricka's shoulder.

"Missing your family?" he asked as she nodded silently.

"I was on vacation here with my little girl and brothers." She muttered, looking out the window to avoid looking at anyone, "When everything went down, I got separated from them and I..." She hesitated, "I couldn't find them. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find them." Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out a picture of a little girl. She had long, chocolate brown hair in two braids. Big blue eyes and a big toothy grin. Rick glanced at the picture and smiled, "She's beautiful. What was her name?"

Lyricka smiled a little as she looked at him, "Addison Michelle. Thanks. My brothers, Brantley and Luke, will keep her safe. She's their whole world as well as mine."

"You'll find them." Rick said, "I know you will."

"Hope so." She said, "I hope you find yours as well." Slowly moving her swollen ankle, she hissed in a breath of air, "Damn it."

"You alright?" Morales asked as he poked his head in the cab as she looked up at him and nodded.

"Yeah, just twisted my ankle." She said as she slowly got up, "Switch me places."

Morales nodded as he stepped back so Lyricka could limp past him and sat down on the floor next to Jacqui, extending her leg.

"Girl, you get hurt more than the average person." She said with a smile as Lyricka laughed a little.

"Yeah, more so than others, I reckon."

"Lyricka," Morales began causing her look up at him, "You and Rick shouldn't dwell on leaving Merle behind. Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back, except maybe Daryl."

"Ya know, despite the fact that the Dixon's and me fight everytime we come in contact, I can't help but feel bad. For Christ's sake, he lost his brother; I lost my family. Something I have in common with him, unfortunately. I can't just sit there with this on my conscience." Lyricka replied as Morales gave her a sincere look before looking out of the window. No body really said that much to her after what she had let out in open.

After thirty minutes, the trip started to get a little rough indicating that they were on a gravel road. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, including Lyricka as they started to hear the sounds of sirens echoing throughout the ravine.

"Sounds like Glenn made it." Andrea said, "I can't wait to see Amy." Everyone mused in agreement who or what they were excited to see when they got back. Lyricka was just ready to lay down and sleep this whole thing away, waking up to only see that this was just a bad dream, to hold her little girl again. If only it were that simple.

Pulling to a stop, the siren had gotten louder then stopped abruptly. Shane's shouting greeted Lyricka's ears as well as Amy's desperate questions until Morales opened the back of the van. Everyone scrambled to get out and greet everyone, the first, being Amy and Andrea. Hearing their joyful cries, she heard Morales' family cry out. Staying behind in the back of the van, she blinked back tears as Rick held his hand out to her.

"Come on, enjoy the rest of the day." He said with a smile as she nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling her up. Limping towards the back, she heard Glenn tell Shane about the 'new guy' that was a cop like him, presuming he was talking about Rick.

"Yeah, come out and meet everyone, helicopter man." Morales called out as Rick helped Lyricka out before he walked over, only to stop. She seen why. Lori and Carl was standing off talking as tears started to run down the boy's face until he turned his head.

"Dad!" he screamed out as he ran towards Rick. Lori stood there like she had seen a ghost before she followed Carl. The three hugged and cried as Lyricka looked down at the ground, her heart clenched painfully, wanting her day to end like his. Glancing over to Shane, she saw something storming in his eyes. Whether it was resentment towards Rick being alive or what, she didn't want no part of it. Shaking her head, dissmissing it from her mind, she limped harshly over to Dale's van, Glenn trodding over to Lyricka with a smile.

"Hey Rae," he said, "You alright?"

Lyricka nodded, hesitating slightly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just screwed up my ankle. Gonna go over to the RV and find something to compress it."

"Well, I found something that I think will make you happy." He said causing her to look at him confused.

"What?" she asked as he slung her arm around his neck and helped her to the van.

"You guys can come out," Glenn hollered making Lyricka to look at him like he was crazy.

"Who are you-?" She asked before trailing off upon seeing a man with short, tousled looking hair, a short stubbly beard, and green eyes wearing tattered and bloody clothes. Her breath hitched upon seeing him until a little girl come out of the RV looking up at him and then looking at her. A lump formed in Lyricka's throat as she put a shaking hand over her mouth, the girl's eyes widened as she took in a sharp breath.

"Mommy!" she screamed out as she ran towards Lyricka. Everyone around her stopped and stared at the scene before them with either smiles or tears in their eyes, holding their loved ones. Tears began to well up in Lyricka's eyes as Glenn let go of her, causing her to fall to her knees and envelope the girl in her arms. Burying her face into the crook of her neck, she let out a sob, "I thought I'd never see you again, Addi."

"Uncle Luke, kept me safe! See mommy?" Addison said as she pointed up at her brother. Lyricka wiped tears from her eyes with her arm as she slowly got up, only to get wrapped in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Luke choked out as he placed a hand on the back of her head. Lyricka hugged her brother tightly as she let out another sob before she took a step back to look around.

"Where's Brantley?"

Luke didn't say anything as he looked at the ground. Lyricka's heart started to race in a panic, "Luke, where's Brantley?" she asked again. She could see tears forming in his eyes as he shook his head.

"I don't know...Rae, I don't know what happened to him. I don't know where he's at. We got separated too. I was lucky to get Addi before she got trampled, I couldn't find him." He replied as she shook her head, putting her bandaged hand on her mouth. Tears fell silently, knowing that the worst probably had happened, "I'm so sorry Rae." She heard him say.

" 's alright..." She started to say, " 's gonna be fine. We found each other, 's all the matters right now." She turned to look at Glenn and smiled, as she flung her arms around him, "Thank you so much, Glenn."

Not really knowing what to do, he just smiled and hugged her back, "You're welcome, Rae. I just saw him waving his hands on the side of the road with a little girl. Then he asked me about you and I figured that they where who you always talked about."

"Glenn, you just don't know how much this means to me." She said, "Thank you." Glenn nodded with a faint blush on his cheeks as she gave him a quick peck on his left cheek before she limped over to the picnic table with Addison and Luke.

"How'd you get hurt?" Luke asked, eyeing his sister's bruised lip, cheek, and bandaged hand.

"Got into a fight with someone," She said as her good hand brushed back her daughter's bangs to take a better look at her. She beamed up at her.

"Who?" he asked, "Everyone here seems like they're good people."

Lyricka laughed, "Yeah, everyone here besides a couple. Shane, he means well, but you couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him." She said as she lowered her voice motioning her eyes to the sulking man, glaring at Rick, "Ed, Carol's husband, you definitely can't trust him. And I dare you to go anywhere near him, Addison."

"I won't momma, I promise." She piped in as she snuggled close to her mother's side.

"Good." She replied, looking back at her brother, "Then there's the Dixon's. They keep to themselves...but, tomorrow, I find that's gonna be hard."

Luke's brows furrowed, "What'd you mean?"

"Well, Daryl, he ain't here." She said, "He's off huntin' for everyone, but he's an asshole. We get into it every time he gets near me. Dunno what his problem is. But his brother, Merle, he's the one I got into a fight with." She held her hands over Addison's ears, "He's a fucking pervert and the biggest asshole you'd ever meet."

"Bigger than ole' man, Grizzle?" Luke asked as she gasped out and laughed, letting go of her daughter's ears, punching him playfully in his shoulder.

"He's way worse than him." Lyricka laughed out, "But the thing that bugs me, is that we left him back in Atlanta handcuffed to a pipe on the rooftop of a building."

"Well, he deserves it." Luke said, folding his arms on the table.

"Luke, I can't live with myself knowing that there's a human being cuffed to a building like an animal. Ya know how I am." Lyricka said, "I could fight with someone one minute, and be friends with them the next."

"Yeah, that's true." He said, rubbing his prickly face, then scratched it furiously, "Damn this friggin' beard! This is worse than No-Shave November."

Lyricka snickered, "Yeah, I bet you regret participating in those stupid ass thing's don't you?"

"You have no idea."

"Rae Rae!" She heard a little girl's voice call out happily as she turned her head to see Sophia smiling and running up to her.

"Aye, Sophie. Whatcha doin?" She asked as Addison hid under her arm, peeking out at her.

"Who's that?" She asked as Addison hid her face again causing her to giggle.

"This is Addison." She said with a smile, "Addi, quit bein so shy, girl. This is Sophia."

Addison looked at Sophia shyly and back to her mother, "Can I play with her?"

"Well, yeah. I don't mind. Just don't go too far." She said as Addison gasped out in delight. Sophia smiled broadly as she held her hand out for Addison to take it. Grabbing it, she clumsily followed the older girl to her mom and the other children. Luke looked to Lyricka, "It don't take long for, Addi-girl to make friends, don't it?"

Lyricka smiled, "No, it don't."

Later that night, Lyricka quietly sipped on a bottle of warm beer as Addison curled up in her lap tightly clutching her jacket, sound asleep. Luke stared into the low fire as they all listened to Rick's tale of what had happened to him; how distoriented he was waking up to the end of the world. She felt for him.

"The doctors said that they would have you medivaced to Atlanta, but it never happened." Lori said as Rick held her close to him.

Carl looked up at his father, "Mom said you died."

Rick smiled a little in understanding, "She had every reason to believe that. If it wasn't for Shane, I wouldn't be here."

Shane silently nodded his head, his eyes staring at him with resentment swirling in them. Lyricka got a chill from his look until she heard gravels crunch from where Carol's family was at. Turning her head, she saw Ed putting another log into the fire. The flame grew causing Shane to jump up and walk over to him.

"Ed, we've got rules about the fires, you know that." He said.

Ed, taking a draw from his cigarette, looked up at him lazily, "It's cold."

Shaking his head slightly, Shane gave him a warning look, "We don't build large fires because it draws attention to this location."

Glaring at Shane, Ed looked over to Carol, "Well? You heard him, put it out."

Carol nodded slowly as she got up from where she sat and poured water over it, "Sorry, Shane."

"It's alright. G'night Carol, Sophia." he replied as he went back to his seat and sat back down.

Silence befallen the camp except for the crackling of the fire.

Dale's voice interrupting the silence, "What are we going to do about Daryl? He's going to be less than thrilled to hear about his brother."

"I think I should tell him." Rick said, volunteering himself as Lori gave him a look that could kill.

"I should too," T-Dog added, "Dixon's alive, and he's still up there. That's on us."

"If ya'll are going to tell him, then I'm in as well." Lyricka replied, "It wasn't just T-Dog up there with him too."


	12. 12: Last Person On Earth

**Happy New Year's everyone! I hope everyone here had a great holiday season.**

**Chapter 12 is out, so please, leave me some feedback! I'd love to hear everyone's tips, questions, input about the characters that will help me keep them the way they're supposed to be; pretty much anything helpful that will make this story any better! You guys don't realize how much these reviews mean to me and how they keep me motivated to keep coming out with more chapters!**

**If this chapter seems weird, then please let me know so I could go back over the mistakes and fix them. I'm also reaching out to my reader's for some ideas with like sexual tension, how I could make it better, what I can do to satisfy everyone. I would really appreciate it!**

**Thanks guys!**

**R&R, please! (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 12: Last Person On Earth<strong>

All night, Lyricka laid in her cot staring up at the blue fabric of the tent. Luke sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag snoring slightly as Addison slept soundly next to her. Physically, she was exhausted. Mentally, she was beyond restless. Her mind racing a hundred miles an hour, replaying the past days events as if on full blast. Merle's pleading eyes haunted her when she closed her eyes before turning red with rage as her and T-Dog left him on the rooftop of the department store. His curses and screams echoing in her mind.

Turning on her side, facing the tent door, her jaw pulsated in protest from him smacking her so hard. Not only her jaw, but her ankle and hand too. Albiet, he was an asshole to the core, but he was still a human. If he died cuffed to that rooftop, then she couldn't live with herself. If his face haunted her like this for the rest of her life, then she had deserved it.

Lyricka could hold her own easily. Proving herself many a times in camp that she was helpful with hunting or whatever was needed. She was a kind person, a good friend if needed be, a fighter when the time came, and a damn good mother. What was left of her family was with her and that made her relieved, however, her heart broke for her brother Brantley, who was still missing. _Was he still alive?_ _What am I going to do if he's dead?_ _How am I supposed to keep Addison from seeing him if he was to ever be a Walker?_ Questions bombarded her throughout the night until she couldn't handle it anymore. Getting up, Lyricka picked up the bouquet of Cherokee Roses that someone had placed outside her tent and studied it for a minute. _If Glenn didn't get them, who did?_ She asked herself as she inhaled the scent and placed the bouquet to the side before she sifted through her bag of clothes she had gotten from the department store. Picking out a pair of jean shorts, blue lacy underwear and matching bra, she then pulled out a light blue camisole. Putting her weight on her good leg, she slowly got dressed, leaving her shoes behind next to her cot.

Trying her best to keep things quiet, she picked up her pistol and placed it at the back of her shorts before picking up her pack of cigarettes, unzipping the tent door slowly. Hearing her brother let out a groan, indicating he was waking up, the sleeping bag crinkled and cracked as Luke sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"What'chu doin, Rae?" Luke asked sleepily as she looked back at him.

"Goin' outside to smoke, _dad._" she replied sarcastically as he chuckled sleepily, "I've got a gun with me, don't worry."

" 's not you, I'm worried bout." he said jokingly as she laughed lightly.

"If Addi-girl wakes up, tell her I'm outside." she said stepping out of the tent to see the sun beginning to rise, "And so another day in hell commences." she said to herself, pulling out a cigarette and putting it between her lips as she limped around camp as quietly as she could, taking a draw of her cigarette.

"Don't think you should be out here this early." Shane's voice came from on top of the RV. Looking up, she met his scowl as she shrugged.

"I'd say this is a free country, I'll do as I please," Lyricka began, blowing small torrents of smoke from her nose, "but seein' how it's gone to hell, I still say I'll do as I please."

"Just sayin', though, it's not safe." Shane said.

"Well, _just sayin_'," She shot back, "_I'm_ a big girl and I can hold my own pretty good 'round here."

"Want to come up here and sit for a while?" the burly cop asked suddenly causing Lyricka to nearly choke.

"Do what?" She said, a brow raised.

"Just tryin' to be polite."

Shrugging, she climbed the ladder to the RV clumsily sitting between the rungs, "What'chu want? You don' ever want to _just talk_."

"I know, I just wanted to tell you something." Shane said, shifting his gun on his lap and his gaze holding her, "I think it would be best if you'd stay here from now on, instead of going on supply runs."

Lyricka scoffed, "How the fuck d'I know this?"

Shane looked at her, "Know what?"

"Don't fuckin' play stupid with me," Lyricka snapped, "Only reason yer wantin' this _little_ _chat_ is because I got myself hurt yesterday. I knew what I was doin'."

"I'm only doing what's right for this group and for what's best for your daughter." Shane countered, his eyes on her backside seeing her gun's outline.

"Don't you _dare _bring my daughter into this." She hissed out, her blood boiling from what he said, "What _I _do doesn't concern you. _I_ do what's best for my daughter; not you. Worry 'bout your business, and I'll worry 'bout mine." Saying nothing else, Lyricka climbed back down, limping away from the RV; Shane's eyes following her till she disappeared from his sight. Walking into the woods, Lyricka limped till she found a suitable tree. Grabbing a branch, she lifted her knee against the bark to get a hold as her good leg lifted her up and over. A good ten feet up, she finally leaned back, taking a deep breath and exhaled. Digging in her pocket, she pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lit one, inhaling deeply. Rolling her eyes into the back of her head, she opened her mouth so far till she formed an 'O' and puffed quickly seeing the puff of smoke roll into an 'O'.

A little while after the sun had risen, Lyricka finally had ventured back into camp where Luke ran up to her with a concerned look, "Where the hell were you?"

"Up a tree, where else?" She replied, her eyes searching for the burly cop, "Where's that bastard cop at?"

"I dunno, why?" he asked growing confused, "Nevermind that, why the hell did you run off?"

Lyricka narrowed her eyes, placing her hand on her hip, "I didn't run off, like I said, I went up a tree to think, like I normally do.

"Why?"

"Cause I can, _dad_." Lyricka bit out, growing aggravated, "I'm done playin' twenty questions, Luke. I'm not in a good mood."

"Who done pissed you off, Rae?" Luke asked as she pursed her lips, "Sorry, this is my last question, promise."

"That bastard cop, Shane." She replied, "Said I was better off stayin' here in camp cause he wants to do what's best for the camp and _my_ daughter."

Luke's brows furrowed, "What's best for what?"

"You heard me."

"That son of a bitch ain't got a sayso in what's best for Addison," Luke said, "You and I do. If he has anything else smart to say 'bout her, he'll fuckin' wish he hadn't." He turned his head in search for him.

Lyricka grabbed his arm, "Don't worry bout 'im, Luke. I done took care of that." Her brother looked at her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"You know I'll look out for you and Addi-girl. You two are all I have." He said, "I know I'm thinkin' if worst comes to worst 'bout B, but I can't help it."

She looked down towards the ground to avert her brother's gaze, "I know, I just don't know what I'm going to do if he ends up as one of _them_ and he wanders up here. How am I 'sposed to hide Addison from him, or what was him?"

"Listen, I don't know what to do either, let's just hope that it doesn't have to end up like that. Addi-girl's with that Sophia girl playin' with Morales' kids and that's Grimes' boy, figured I'd tell ya before you asked." Luke added as Lyricka smiled at him, they started walking up a path towards the RV as they passed Rick, who came out of his and Lori's tent, wearing a baggy white shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers.

"Mornin'." Rick said as he joined them.

"Mornin', sleep alright?" Luke asked as Rick nodded.

"Better than I have in a while," he replied as he paused to speak to Carol, who was ironing his uniform.

"Morning, they're still a little damp." she said patting his clothes, "Sun'll have them dry in no time."

"You washed my clothes?" he asked.

"Well, best we could." Carol replied, "Washing them on an old scratchboard ain't nothing compared to my old Maytag back home."

"That's very kind. Thank you." he said as he nodded to Luke and Lyricka, following them to where Glenn stood behind Dale and Jim as they were dissecting the Challenger. The three of them stood next to Glenn, his arms were crossed as he gave them a sorrowful look.

"Look at them. Vultures." he said, "Yeah, go on. Strip it clean."

"Sorry Glenn," Dale replied, as he patted him on the shoulder going into the RV briefly to get something.

"Maybe you'll get to steal another'n." Lyricka said thoughtfully as he looked at her with the same sad look, "Damn shame though."

"You can say that again," Glenn and Luke said in unison.

"She was a fine car, besides the blaring siren, of course." Luke added, obviously not helping. Lyricka gave him a stern look as he returned her look with an apologetic one.

"We have to get what we can before Ole Bessie's broke down and leaves us in a pickle." Jim said as he unscrewed a part from the car. Dale came back from the RV as Rick patted Glenn's shoulder before going to talk to Lori.

"You got a fine little girl, Lyricka. Look's just like you."

Lyricka smiled sweetly, "Awe, thanks Dale, she's stubborn like her uncle though." Hearing the sounds of Shane's Jeep coming up the road, she paused as it slid to a stop on the gravels.

"Water's here ya'll." He announced, unbuckling himself from the jeep, "Just a reminder, boil it before use." Getting out, he gave Rick a curt nod.

Shaking her head, Lyricka looked around for the children, "By the way, where's the kid's playin' at?"

As soon as she asked that, screams reverberated through the camp causing her chest to clench tightly, ice running through her veins, "Addi!" she yelled out in panic, grabbing her pistol from the back of her shorts and ran in the direction of the screaming, forgetting about her ankle. Her, Luke, and the rest of the group came to where the children were playing as Addison came running to Lyricka with tears in her eyes.

"Mommy, that thing's eating it!" she cried out as Lyricka looked around desperately for whatever she was pointing at, looking at Jacqui, "Can you watch her real quick?" she asked as she gave her daughter a tight squeeze as Jacqui held Addison in her arms. Running into a clearing with the men, she saw a lone walker eating on a doe. Noticing bolts in the deer's neck, it was obviously going to be dinner, but not anymore, Rick, Luke, Jim, and Glenn circled the walker. Lyricka realized the walker immediately.

"Damn George, you're getting uglier and uglier everytime I see you." she remarked as Amy and Andrea made their way to the scene. Amy's nose scrunched up in disgust, her hands holding onto her sister tightly. Andrea looked on with wide eyes. The walker stopped chewing on the deer's flesh as it got up; snarling. The men wasted no time in beating the walker with bats, crowbars, and whatever they could get their hands on. Dale finally came in with an axe and decaptiated him; George's head rolling a few feet away from his body.

Luke looked up at Lyricka panting, backing away from George's body, "George?!"

Lyricka shrugged, "I was up a tree and lonely! What do you expect someone who ain't had contact with humans do?"

"Certainly not naming walkers, George!" Luke countered as everyone looked at the corpse.

"That's the first one we've had up here." Dale said trying to catch his breath, "They never come this far up the mountain."

Jim stared at the corpse briefly, "They're running out of food in the city, that's what."

The sounds of rustling and twigs snapping came from the bushes beside Lyricka causing her and the men to look in the direction of the noise warily. Raising her pistol, expecting another Walker to come out quickly diminished as Daryl came into view, pausing in the brush with a slight bewildered look on his face at the group that had assembled in front of him. She heard several sighs of relief come from Shane, Dale, and Morales, hearing one of them sigh out, "Ah, Jesus."

Daryl, finally catching sight of the deer, came out of the brush, his demeanor quickly changed to anger, "Sonuvah bitch. That's my deer." He walked up to the dead animal with a disgusted look as everyone pretty much backed away from the Dixon brother. Luke grabbed Lyricka by the arm, tugging her back away from him, "Look at it," Daryl fumed, walking around the deer, then turned towards George's corpse and started kicking it, "All gnawed up by this filthy, disease barren, motherless, proxy bastard!"

"Calm down son, it ain't helpin'." Dale said aloud.

Daryl came up to him till he was face to face with Dale, "What'd you know 'bout it Old Man? Why don' you take yer stupid hat back to yer home at Golden Pond?" he spat out as he turned back towards the deer, sighing. Placing a boot on the carcass, he pulled out the bolts, "Been tracking this deer fer miles. Drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. Whaddya think? Cut around the chewed up part right here?" he asked, his blue eyes making full on contact with Lyricka's briefly before glancing over to Shane.

"Would not want to risk that." Shane replied, his arms resting on his shotgun that he held on his shoulders.

Daryl sighed in aggravation at the deer, " at's a damn shame." He pulled up his string full of squirrels, "Got some squirrel," he added shifting it on his shoulder, " 'bout a dozen or so. That'll have ta do."

Lyricka looked down at George's mangled head as it reanimated and started snapping.

"Oh god." Amy groaned out in disgust as her and Andrea went back to camp, Lyricka couldn't help but smirk.

"Come on people, what the hell?"Daryl said as he placed a bolt into his crossbow and shot it, the bolt piercing the skull. Coming up to it, he placed his boot carefully on it's forehead, plucking the bolt out, "Got ta be the brain, don't ya'll know nuthin'?" he asked as his gaze caught Lyricka's again, before brushing past her and Luke. Rick gave her a questionable look as she rolled her eyes.

"So that's Daryl?" Luke asked as they watched the youngest Dixon brother walk into camp.

"Yeah." She replied sarcastically, " 'at's him." Limping slightly, she followed the group back into camp hearing Daryl call out for Merle. Her heart tugged at the truth of what had happened and him not knowing. Slowly walking over to where Jacqui and Addison were, her and Luke slowly sat down, Addison climbing up in Lyricka's lap as she sniffled.

"Mommy, I'm scared." She whispered as Lyricka held her close to her chest as she put her chin on top of Addison's head.

"It's alright, Addi-girl, it's over now." She told her as Luke and her watched intently at what was about to unravel itself.

"Merle!" Daryl called out as Shane followed him carrying his shotgun, "Merle! Get yer ugly ass out here!" He called out again, placing his crossbow on the ground, he then reached for the string of squirrels, "Got us some squirrel, stew 'em up." he added as he turned and began walking towards his tent.

"Daryl." Shane began as the Dixon brother looked over his shoulder at him, slowing his steps, "Slow up a bit, I need to talk to ya."

Stopping, he looked at Shane, "About whut?"

Shane caught up with him, running a hand down his face, "About Merle." He passed him, "There was a," he hesitated, "There's a problem down in Atlanta."

Almost instantly, the entire camp had gathered around. Lori, Andrea, and Amy stood at the RV door looking on while Shane looked at Daryl warily.

The hunter looked behind him for a second, seeming to conclude the outcome of his brother, "He dead?" He asked as his hand holding the squirrels tensed up into a fist.

"Not sure." Shane replied.

"Either he is or he ain't." Daryl snapped as Rick interjected.

"There's no easy way to say this, but I'll say it." he said, walking up to the two men.

"Who are you?" Daryl spat out hatefully to the newcomer.

"Rick Grimes." He replied.

"Rick _Grimes_?" The man growled out, "Got somethin' you wanna say?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all." Rick said bluntly, "So I handcuffed him on a roof to a piece of metal. He's still there" Lyricka's eyes wandered to T-Dog coming up the hill with an armful of firewood, his steps slowing to a halt. Her eyes following Daryl's movements carefully, he turned around processing what Rick had told him. He ran his arm quickly over his eyes. _Was he crying?_ she asked, furrowing her brows in sympathy.

"You handcuffed my brother to a roof?" Daryl spat out with hostility coating his words, his eyes narrowed in anger, "And you _left_ him there?"

Rick nodded, his guilt ever present on his face, "Yeah."

Daryl's face reddened in outrage as his eyes flashed dangerously, his mouth forming a tight line, while his breathing sped up. He paced back and forth like a caged animal until he slung the string of squirrels at Rick, lunging at him until Shane slammed him into the ground. T-Dog dropped the wood on the ground as he rushed over to the squabble.

Jerking out his hunting knife, Daryl jumped up slashing at Rick as T-Dog warned him. Dodging it easily, Rick quickly grabbed the raging Dixon by the wrist, disarming him while Shane came up behind him in a chokehold.

"Best let me go!" Daryl shouted out in resentment, struggling against Shane's hold.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane replied.

Addison looked up at Lyricka with worried eyes, "Are they hurting him mommy?"

An amused smiled played at her lips, "No, Addi. He's being bad so they have to put him in time out."

Addison giggled, "Ohhh! So grown ups have time outs too?"

Luke chuckled, "Yeah. Sometimes it comes in different forms, but don't ever do that to anyone." Addison laughed and nodded.

"Chokeholding's illegal!" Daryl bit out as Shane pulled him to the ground.

"You can take out a complaint." Shane countered, "Come on now, keep this up and we'll be like this all day."

Rick kneeled in front of Daryl, "I'd like to have a calm discussion about this topic, you think you can manage that?" Daryl remained silent in Shane's chokehold, "You think we can manage that?" he repeated again, looking up at Shane as he let him go, Daryl hitting the ground.

Both men straightened up as Daryl gasped for breath, composing himself. Kneeling down to Daryl's level, Rick looked at him in the eye, "What I did, was not on whim." He began, "Your brother does not work well or play well with others."

Lyricka watched long enough, "Addi, go sit with Luke." Addison got up with a nod as she went over to Luke, who gave her a stern look.

"Rae, don't you dare." He warned.

She gave him a dark look, "Listen, I was apart of this too. I told him I'd go back. You wouldn't know, you weren't there." Luke's jaw ticked in aggravation at his sister as she slowly got up to joined T-Dog.

" 's not Rick's fault." Lyricka began catching the men's attention. Daryl's eyes bore holes into her as she limped slightly to get her balance.

"I had the key, I dropped it." T-Dog confessed as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snapped.

"Dropped it in a drain." Lyricka finished for T-Dog as he looked at her, hearing Daryl looking down and scoffed as he grunted getting up and walked past her.

"If that's 'sposed to make me feel better, it don't." He said as he slung a piece of gravel to the ground.

"Maybe this will," T-Dog said, causing him to stop, "I chained the door to the roof so the Geeks couldn't get him. With a padlock."

"It's gotta count for somethin." Rick said as Daryl looked at them, running his arm over his eyes again.

"Ta hell with all ya'll." He said, distress in his voice, "Jus' tell me where he is, so's I can go get 'im."

"He'll show you," Lori piped in with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Isn't that right?"

Rick looked at her quietly before nodding, "I'm going back."

Lori turned and went into the RV leaving Rick outside while Daryl flung an arm, grabbed his bow and trudged to his tent. Lyricka glanced over to her brother who was glaring at her, waving him off, he came over to her.

"What are you doing?" He whispered harshly, "Are you trying to get yerself killed?"

Lyricka shook her head, "No, I'm not. But I ain't gonna let a man die."

"You're unbelieveable! Here we are and you're wanting to risk your life for someone who hurt you!" He exclaimed in disbelief.

"We've already been through this, Luke." Lyricka said raising her bandaged hand, "I ain't havin this conversation agian. Where'd Addison go?"

Luke's hard gaze softened, "She went to play with Sophia. She loves that girl."

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, "That's good." Sighing, she looked in the direction of Daryl's tent. Luke looked in the same direction causing him to grumble out something incoherent. She smiled, "I'm only gonna try to talk to 'im without killin' each other."

"Fine." He grumbled. She reached out for his hand and squeezed it.

Limping towards Daryl's tent, she noticed him pacing inside chewing on his thumb. Licking her dry lips, her swollen and busted bottom lip stung slightly. Lyricka wasn't very quiet with the limping quietly part. Her foot kicked some gravels causing the fuming man to stop what he was doing and look up with a heated glare.

"The hell you want?" Daryl spat out, noticing the muscle in his jaw ticking.

Lyricka stopped shortly from his tent, "I don' want trouble." She began slowly.

"Well if ya don' want trouble, _leave._" Daryl bit out, his eyes narrowing at her as he turned his back.

She sighed slightly, "Look, I'm probably the last person on earth you'd expect to talk to you."

"Ain't that the damned truth?" He snapped looking over his shoulder, interrupting her again, "I ain't got time to listen to yer fuckin' apologies an' I don't wanna hear it either."

Her eyes narrowed, ignoring Daryl's outburts, "Ya know, yer brother ain't my favorite person. But he's still a human. What happened in Atlanta, that was against everything I stand for."

Daryl scoffed grabbing his crossbow and slung it on his shoulder, "Yeah? An' how's 'at?" He asked sarcastically making Lyricka bite her tongue so she wouldn't cuss him, "Look's like yer family's back with ya."

She shook her head looking him in the eyes, "Not everyone. My brother, Brantley," She paused as she felt her heart hurt slightly at the mention of his name, "He's still missin'. I dunno know if he's still alive or what." Daryl gave her a quick glance as he brought his thumb up to his mouth again, chewing on it, "But Merle? He's still alive. Trust me on 'at. You may or may not believe me, I don't care, I hate that we left him. If I have to live with this on my conscience, then so be it. I told 'im I'd come back myself if I had ta."

Daryl scoffed harshly, taking large strides towards her and had her up against the tree with his face inches from hers, his arms on both sides of her head caging her in, " 's one thing I know 'bout Merle, is nothin' can kill Merle but Merle. 'sides, why the hell do ya care?"

Lyricka's breath hitched slightly from the sudden closeness, her eyes staring into his. She chewed on the good side of her swollen bottom lip, noticing Daryl's features better. Her heart began to speed up, feeling a fluttering sensation in her stomach and eminated throughout her body, her blue gaze meeting his. Just within that second she had noticed he had a rugged quality to him. The smell of the woods, dirt, and sweat was definitely present from his recent hunt. It reminded her of her father and grandfather. Strangely to her, it was comforting. Daryl's unshaven face added to his scruffyness which she had found attractive and that scared her. The heat rolled off Daryl's body from the closeness. It felt like Lyricka was in an inferno compared to the heat from the humid sun.

* * *

><p>Looking down at Lyricka, his body began to tremble at the closeness from each other. He tried his damnedest to conceal what he had begun to felt. Seeing her back at the quarry swimming, he couldn't get the image of her out of his mind. The wind blew slightly as tendrils of Lyricka's hair tickled his arms that where above her head, leaving tingling sensations in their wake. It unnerved him to the core, yet intrigued him at the same time. Her blue eyes stared up at him with sympathy and aggravation stirring in them. Why had she taken the time to talk to him? Did she even realize that she had this strange effect to him, that he had to try his best to keep his distance from her? Daryl found himself lowering his head towards hers, only to stop realizing what he was doing. Right now, his objective was to find Merle and what he was doing wasn't helping Merle out at all.<p>

Pushing these stirrings down, Daryl looked at her impatiently, "Well? You gon' say sumthin' or not?" he said as she shook her head, blowing out an aggravated sigh.

"Jus' forget I even come out here to even talk to ya." Lyricka bit out as she took a few steps away from him, limping. Daryl's chest clinched in anger noticing her limp as he grabbed her arm, stopping her. She froze in her place just from his blatant touch.

"What happened to ya?" he asked, his eyes now scanning her face.

Lyricka narrowed her eyes at his hand on her arm and scoffed, "Leggo of my arm, Dixon. 's none of yer business."

Daryl didn't loosen his grip, "Well, sumthin' happened to ya to make ya limp and have a busted lip."

She let out a curt laugh as she shook her head, "Ya really gonna get the balls to ask me that? 'sides, why the hell do _you_ care?"

"Peletier hit ya?" he asked, ignoring her question.

A sarcastic laugh escaped her lips, "Ya gotta be kiddin' me? _Fat boy_? Hell no. I could take that sonuva bitch with my hand tied behind my back." She noticed his gaze wandering to Shane and she laughed again, "Not Mr. Authority, either."

Daryl scoffed, "_Merle_?"

A smile formed on her lips, "Well, ain't we a smart redneck? Give ya a cookie."

"What yer mouth bout who ya talkin to." He growled out.

"Why the fuck should I?" Lyricka spat out, "I done what I thought was right and I got this." She said pointing to her lip and cheek with her bandaged hand, "Ya brother slapped me then shoved me to the ground."

Anger boiled in Daryl's eyes as she stared at him with her jaw clenched, "What's with the limp?"

" 's none of your business," she said looking away from him, her eyes on her little girl playing with Sophia and Eliza. Daryl finally let go of her arm, her skin buzzing to life where he had ahold of her. It was a new sensation that she had never felt before. Dismissing it, she sighed and glanced at Daryl, "Might be the last person on earth to even speak to ya, 's best if ya just forget I even tried."

Daryl was about to say something until Addison ran over to where the two stood, "Mommy! Come on, you promised earlier that you would play with Sophie and me!"

The little girl stood in front of her mother with furrowed brows, crossed arms, and pursed lips causing Lyricka's demeanor to change from agitated and smiled at her daughter, "I forgot Addi-girl. Come on." Extending her hand to her daughter, Addison smiled broadly taking it before looking up at Daryl, who stood there looking at Lyricka.

"Mommy, is that your friend?" she asked as Lyricka glanced at the Dixon brother.

Shaking her head, she laughed a little, "Not hardly, Addison. Come on." Limping back to where the rest of the group was with her daughter, Lyricka didn't bother to look back.

Daryl watched Lyricka leave with her daughter in silence. He felt guilty and angry that his brother even bothered to hurt her. The fact that she had even attempted to talk to him out of sympathy made him feel even worse about how he spoke to her.

* * *

><p>Lyricka sat on the ground with Addison, Eliza, Louis, Sophia, and Carl as they all played 'Duck, Duck, Goose.' Addison went around each child gently tapping their head as she repeated, "Duck, duck, duck, duck..." About her second time around, she poked Carl with a big smile, "GOOSE!"<p>

Rick's son smiled broadly as he jumped up and chased Addison around the circle. Sophia and Eliza cheered her on as she squealed in excitement, making it to Carl's spot and flopped down. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves as Lyricka overheard Rick and Shane speaking; Lori beckoning Carl over to her.

"So that's it, huh?" Shane spoke quietly, "You just gonna walk off? Just, to hell with everybody else?"

"Didn't say to hell with anybody," Rick replied, buttoning his shirt, "Not you Shane. Lori the least of all." He walked away as Shane put his last word in.

"Tell Lori that."

Rick looked over his shoulder at his friend, turned around with a sigh, "She knows."

"Well look, I-" He paused for a moment, "I don't, Rick. So, could you just, throw me a bone here, man? Could you throw me a bone? Tell me why. Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?"

Daryl, who was finishing up something next to the fire, heard what Shane had said about his brother, "Hey, choose your words more carefully."

Shane looked at him, "Oh I did, douchebag's what I meant." He looked to Rick, "_Merle Dixon_. Wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"I doesn't matter what he would or wouldn't do, doesn't interest me." Rick replied, "I can't let a man die of thirst. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori asked from the fire pit as Lyricka watched Rick put his hand on his hips, turning to look at Glenn. Getting up quickly, she limped over to where Glenn stood.

He saw what Rick wanted and sighed out disdainfully.

"_Oh_ but no." Lyricka stated, "He's been to Atlanta one too many times."

"He knows the way. He's been there before. In and out, no problem. He said so himself." Rick said as Lyricka looked to her friend. He did not want to go.

"Yeah, there was no problem's till _somebody_ decided to play cowboys and walkers." Lyricka shot back, "It ain't fair to Glenn."

"I know it ain't fair to him, but I'd feel a lot better with him along." Rick said understandingly, he looked to Lori, "It'd make her feel better too."

"That's just great," Shane started in, "You're gonna risk three men."

"Four." T-Dog added. Daryl looked at him and scoffed.

"My day jus' gets better and better, don' it?" He retorted, checking his arrows.

"Yeah, you see anybody else, stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked.

"Why you?" Daryl shot back.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand, " T-Dog replied, "You don't speak my language."

"That's four," Dale announced.

"It's not just four," Shane said, "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on. You saw that Walker. It was here. It was _in_ our camp. They're moving out of the city. They come back, we're going to need every able body, we got. We need them here. We need them to protect our camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here, are more guns." Rick said. Lyricka looked at him quietly. He had a valid point. Both of them did.

Taking his hat off, Glenn ran a hand through his hair, "Right, the guns."

Rick and Shane turned to look at him.

"What guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick listed out, "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. They're just sitting there on the street waiting to be picked up."

Shane looked at Rick seriously, "Ammo?"

"Seven hundred rounds. Assorted."

Shane inhaled deeply, taking a step back from Rick as he looked around at everyone.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here. You're going to turn around and leave?" Lori asked in disbelief, her voice beginning to crack.

Carl looked up at his dad from beside Lori, "Dad, I-I don't want you to go."

Rick looked away from them, "To hell with the guns. Shane is right. _Merle Dixon_? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori stated in anger as she got up, "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy." Rick began as she opened her mouth turning her head towards Carl, "Lori, they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They're walking into the same trap I did if I don't warn them."

Lori looked down for a moment, "What's stopping you?"

"The walkie talkie." He replied, "The one in the bag that I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"Is it our walkies?" Shane asked, sitting on the bumper of the jeep.

"_Yeah_." he replied.

"So use the CB, what's wrong with that?" Andrea suggested.

"Our CB's fine." Shane said, "It's the walkies that's sucked to crap. Date back to the 70's. Don't match any band width, not even the scanners in the cars."

Rick looked to his wife with sincerity in his eyes, "I need that bag."

Lori said nothing as Rick walked over to Carl, "Ok?"

Carl thought for a moment as he nodded his head silently.

"Alright." he said softly as he put a hand on his son's head.

"Glenn ain't goin unless I go." Lyricka finally said as Luke, Glenn, T-Dog, Shane, Daryl, and Rick looked at her in shock, "I was 'part of this too."

Luke shook his head, "_No_. You're not leaving this camp."

Lyricka looked to her brother, "We've done had this discussion, Luke. I done told ya, I was gonna go back."

Shane scoffed, "Absolutely not. The more people that go, the more at risk this camp is."

Rick stood up and went over to Lyricka, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I think it would be best if you stayed here this time. Give your ankle some time to heal properly."

Lyricka gave him a stern look and was about to say something until Luke had stopped her, "Would it make you feel better that I went instead of you? So that you can actually spend time with Addison?" He said in an attempt to make his sister stay, "For christ sake, Lyricka, you just came back into her life."

She looked at her brother silently, a lump forming in her throat, "Luke, ya know why I want to go back."

Luke nodded, his jaw clenched, "Yeah, I know. That's why it should be me than you."

Lyricka felt her face grow hot as tears began to form in her eyes. Blinking them away, she finally gave in and nodded, "Fine."

* * *

><p><strong>FanFicGirl10-<strong> Thanks! Remember though that her other brother, Brantley is still missing! I have so many ideas for the next chapter, I don't know how I'm gonna pick what the outcome should be.


	13. 13: Backtracking to Atlanta

**So! I got Chapter 13 out! For those who are looking at the screen thinking, what the crap? I put a chapter in between Chapter 4 and what is now Chapter 6. But I've updated the chapters after 5. Just let me know what ya'll think and leave me some feedback! I'm so happy to know that everyone likes my story, I hope I still get read ya'll's reviews. They really mean a lot to me. I'm still asking everyone to send me advice about how I can make this story better, with the sexual tension and how I can make it better, if I should do something to spruse this story up, etc. **

**R&R please! (:**

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><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 13: Backtracking to Atlanta<strong>

Lyricka looked to her brother with a frown as she ran a hand on the back of her neck, "Are ya sure you want to go?"

Luke smiled softly, nodding as he placed a gentle hand on the side of her face to easy her, "Yeah, guess that it would be better me than you. Ya got Addi-girl to look after. She needs her momma."

Lyricka nodded biting her lip in uncertainty, "I know. Jus' be careful."

Luke chuckled, "Ya know I will." He murmured embracing his sister, "I've made it this far ain't I?"

She couldn't help but smile, "Yeah. But," she said as she pulled her pistol out of it's hoslter, "Take this. It has a full clip."

Luke gave her an uneasy look, "I don't think it would be best. What if more of 'em come up here?"

She flashed him a smile, " 's why I got a knife and bow."

Hesitantly, he took her weapon and placed it at the small of his back, "_You_ need to be careful. You and Addison both." They both heard the horn on the van go off causing the both of them to turn to see Daryl yelling something out with impatience to Rick. Luke shook his head, "Let's hope that I don't strangle Dixon. Can't stand him already."

Lyricka laughed, "Then you'd absolutely _adore_ Merle."

Luke rolled his eyes as he hugged his sister. Addison ran up to him with tears in her eyes, "Bubby be careful!" Smiling he picked her up.

"Addi-girl, ain't I always?" he asked as she sniffled a little and nodded, "Go to your momma, she's gonna be here." She looked at Lyricka with watery eyes as she stretched her arms out for Lyricka to get her. Taking her, Lyricka looked at Luke.

"Come back in one piece." She said as he nodded, walking over to the van and climbed in, glancing back to her as Daryl closed the back. Her and Addison watched on as the van pulled away from the campsite, leaving behind a trail of dust.

Was Lyricka worried? Beyond belief she was. She had just got her family back, that part of what Luke had said was true, but if something had happened to Luke in the process of him looking for Brantley and Merle, she would never forgive herself.

* * *

><p>Luke sat in the back of the van quietly inspecting his sister's pistol that she had given to him. <em>One <em>_full clip ain't gonna do a whole lot against a whole herd of Geeks._ Luke mused in his head noticing T-Dog looking at him.

"Something ya need?" He asked as T-Dog looked down for a moment.

"Your sister's a good person."

Luke nodded, "Yeah, she is. Best sister anyone could ask for. Like a second mother to my brothers and I."

"How many?" T-Dog asked as Luke chewed on the inside of his jaw.

"Three including me," Luke laughed at a distant memory of him, Brantley, and Connor teasing Lyricka, "The three of us gave her hell growin' up."

Glenn smiled, "She knows how to hold her own and she's a really good shot."

"Yeah, our grandfather taught her most of what she knows. The fighting part though, she's got on her own and having to put up with our asses." Luke heard soft chuckles from Glenn, Rick, and T-Dog.

Daryl sat off to himself listening, obviously not amused to listen about Luke's sister. Part of him though, took interest. Through the years of being practically raised by Merle, he had taught himself how to look and act like he wasn't interested in something, but to watch and listen closely without them noticing. He was pretty sure that the asian kid was unaware that he knew everything that him and the girl talked about. Inside he smirked remembering when Lyricka had punched him. The bastard deserved it, but he knew all to well that Merle was just on one of his fixes. As a result, Merle had also kept Daryl up most of that night ranting how she was a fine piece of ass and betted that she was a hellcat in bed. Daryl had ignored most of it knowing if he had said something, it would just add fuel to Merle's fire.

Glancing up through the windshield, the city of Atlanta had grown closer.

The ride was noneoftheless enjoyable, nor was it quiet. Luke, Glenn, T-Dog, and Rick had conversed amongst each other while Daryl distanced himself from everyone anxious to get this day over with and get his brother back. Pulling in the outskirts of the city, Daryl looked to T-Dog with a cross look on his face.

"Better be ok. 's my only word on the matter."

"I told you the Geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door, is us." T-Dog replied as Daryl pulled out a kerchief and wiped his mouth, staring at him with a irratated look. Glenn pulled to a stop, turning the keys off in the ignition and turned in his seat, "We walk from here."

Rick and Glenn piled out of the doors while Daryl raised the back of the cube van as him, Luke, and T-Dog exited it, jogging down the tracks silently.

* * *

><p>Later on, Miranda had offered to watch Addison after Lori asked her to help wash clothes. With a smile, she complied, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead before she grabbed bags of clothes with Carol, heading down to the quarry.<p>

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Carol asked meekly, her eyes glancing at Lyricka as she packed the two heaviest bags down the hill.

Lyricka's lips pooched out slightly into a self assured frown, shaking her head, "Nah, I got this. Packed heavier on my daddy's cattle farm."

Carol looked at her with a soft smile, "Where did you used to live?"

"I was born in 'Bama." She said as she puffed out making it to where Jacqui, Andrea, and Amy was at, "Lived there with my momma and daddy until I went to college. Then I stayed in Alaska for four years and ended up having Addison. Momma wanted me to come home and I chose not to and ended up getting a place up in the mountains of West Virginia."

Carol began to pull out clothes, "Sophia really loves Addison."

Lyricka smiled, "Yeah, I know. Addi-girl and Sophie don't go nowhere without one another." She noticed Shane and Carl playing in the water, "Seems like _some_ of us gets to have some fun."

Jacqui looked up seeing them before rolling her eyes, "How is that we get stuck doing the Hattie McDaniel work?"

"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy answered in sarcasm. Lyricka chuckled to herself as she grabbed a pair of Addison's clothes and scrubbed.

"I _do _miss my Maytag." Carol suddenly mused out. Lyricka glanced at her friend with a smile.

"I miss my coffee maker with the ultra riff filter and grinder on it." Jacqui said closing her eyes with a pleasant smile to her face, "What I'd do for a cup right now."

"I miss my computer." Amy said with a small pout, "and texting."

"One thing I _don't _miss is gettin' on Facebook and seein' someone postin', _Goin' out with the guys, hit me up!_" Lyricka chuckled out, "Who the hell cares, son? _Not_ me."

Amy looked to her with a smile and laughed along with everyone else before quieting down. There was silence except for the sound of Carl and Shane splashing and the scratchboards rattling, "I'm miss my vibrator." Andrea fessed. Lyricka stopped and sat upright looking at the blonde with wide eyes and a smile, laughing. The girls watched as Carol slowly looked over her shoulder to Ed, who was sitting up at the car smoking a cigarette and looked back to her clothes, "Me too." She whispered.

Lyricka, Andrea, Jacqui, and Amy all burst out laughing, Ed noticing.

Getting up from the tailgate, Ed lumbered over towards the girls, "What's so funny?"

"Jus' swapping war stories, Ed." Lyricka said looking up with an uneasy smile.

Andread looked at him with a scoff, "Problem, Ed?"

Shaking his head, he focused on Carol, "None that concerns you. You orta focus on ya work." Carol looked up at her husband sullenly, "This ain't no comedy club."

Obeying, Carol scrubbed subserviently. Lyricka's blood began to boil at how Ed treated Carol. Everybody always noticed her with new bruises almost everyday. Had she seen Sophia, she'd know that she would've killed him. That day at the quarry made her skin crawl with him trying to make her comply to him. To hell with that. To hell with men in general.

Off where Shane and Carl were at, she heard Lori telling Carl to go back to camp before setting in yelling at Shane. Apparently they were having problems since Rick had come back. That wasn't her problem.

* * *

><p>Inside the department building, Rick led the way, carefully scanning the inside of the building. Raising a hand signaling to halt, he looked to Daryl, pointing two of his fingers to his eyes and pointed towards a female Walker across the room. Stepping around him quietly, Daryl shouldered his crossbow, lowering himself slightly to remain unseen around the counter as he crept up to get a better shot.<p>

"Damn, you are one ugly skank." he whispered out as the female walker stopped to process Daryl as food before gurgling out a growl. Raising his bow, he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. Once the bolt had pierced the walker's head, it fell into a heap as he went over to it and pulled the bolt out; the walkers head raising from the suction of the arrow, thumping slightly as it hit the ground. Stepping back from the corpse, Daryl wiped the bolt clean.

* * *

><p>A couple silent minutes went by as everyone washed clothes uneasily, Ed continuing to loom over them. Noticing Andrea growing even irratated with him still around, she got up.<p>

"I'll tell ya what," Andrea said, "You don't like how your laundry's done, you are _welcome_ to come in and do it yourself." She threw his pants to him only to have it thrown back.

"Ain't my job missy." Ed replied.

Andrea opened her mouth to say something, Amy got up to deter her sister, "Andrea don't."

"What is your job, Ed?" Andrea seethed out, "Sitting on your ass smoking?"

Carol was beside Lyricka nervously washing shirt that she had, her head down in subordenance. The muscle in Lyricka's jaw ticked in disdain as she laid the pair of pants down, putting a gentle hand on her.

"It sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart mouthed bitch, I'll tell ya what." Ed retorded as Andrea's mouth hung slightly open, Ed focused on Carol, "Come on, let's go."

Obediantly, she began to get up until Lyricka's grip got firmer on her shoulder. Getting up with imprints of the gravels on her knees, she stood by Andrea looking at Ed cross, "I don't think she needs to go with you, Ed."

Ed took a step closer to her, "I say, it's none of your business, Squaw." He looked over her head to Carol, "Come on now, ya heard me."

Andrea, Amy, and Lyricka's heads turned towards the gray haired woman as she slowly got up, "Carol."

"It's ok." She mumbled quietly, "It doesn't matter."

"Hey," Ed called out making Lyricka and Andrea to turn, "Don't think I won't knock you two on your ass." He warned, "Just cause you're some college educated coose, a'ight?"

Andrea's and Lyricka's mouths fell open at his insult recieving an apologetic look from Carol. Andrea scoffed, looking at him as he reached towards Carol, "You gonna come now, or you're gonna regret it later."

Ed's lumbering figure disgusted her beyond proportions. His brows raised in his threat towards his wife as Jacqui spoke up, "Why, so she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Inside, Lyricka smiled at Jacqui. She had admired her for her indepenancy.

Ed gave her a scoff as he turned his head at her accusations, "You're wasting my time, now, come on." Ed bit out growing angry with all the women. Still seething from Lori's confrontation, Shane noticed Ed harassing the group of women washing the clothes.

"Ya know what? This ain't none ya'll's business." Ed said with a malicious tone in his voice, "Ya'll are startin bull, ok? Now I am _done_ talking." Ed then grabbed Carol by the arm to drag her back to camp.

"No, _no._" Andrea said stopping him, "Carol, you don't have to-"

Lyricka grabbed ahold of Carol as Ed got up in her face, "Carol don't have to _what_?!" He yelled out, "I'll tell you what!" Lyricka felt a seething hot pain go across her face, hearing another smack followed by Carol's cry. Without thinking, she lunged at the lumbering man throwing a punch. She felt her fist connect nicely across his jaw only to enrage him more. Amy, Andrea, and Jacqui shoved Ed back as one of them held Carol away from Ed's grasp. Outside all the chaos from all the women's cries and shouts, Shane trudged into the group, grabbing ahold of Carol's husband dragging him away from the group with anger radiating off him and slung Ed to the ground, getting ahold of his shirt and started punching him. Lyricka tasted blood in her mouth. Running her tongue along the inside of her jaw, she winced finding where it was cut. She spit out a gob of blood on the ground as Carol cried out apologies to her husband. Everyone else stood staring at the fight, stunned.

A minute passed by as Shane's hits became harder and harder, seeing Peletier's head bounce of the ground with every punch. His mind grew foggy with anger until he heard the women shouting out for him to stop. One last punch, Shane had him by the throat, "You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anyone else in this camp on more time, I _will not_ stop next time. I'll beat you to death, Ed," He warned out getting up, placing a swift kick into the man's side before he glanced up to all of the girl's stunned faces. Saying nothing, he stormed off hearing Carol crying over Ed's crumpled body.

Lyricka's cheek sang, spitting out another gob of blood, Amy's eyes settled on her with furrowed brows, "Rae, are you alright?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just got the shit knocked outta me." Touching her lip, she winced, "Great." she muttered as she turned to the weeping woman bent over the spluttering and bleeding man, " 's gonna be alright."

Carol looked up at her with tears running down her face noticing Lyricka's bleeding lip, blood running down the corner of her mouth, she put her hand up over it, "Oh Lyricka, I'm so sorry."

" 's alright." She said with a sigh, "Let's get this fat ass up off the ground."

Carol nodded as she tugged at her husband's arm pitifully. Grabbing his other one, Ed jerked his arms away from both women, "Get the hell away from me." He slowly got up ungracefully, "Find your own damn way back to camp." Carol turned her head slowly to the group as she followed him to the car. Getting in, he slammed the door and drove up the hill. Andrea, Amy, and Jacqui looked at Lyricka.

"Well, let's get to it." Lyricka sighed out, "These clothes ain't gonna walk themselves up the hill."

* * *

><p>Rick led the way as Luke and Glenn followed behind him, Daryl and T-Dog bringing up the rear. Coming to the landing where the door was at, Rick looked to T-Dog as he came up with the bolt cutters. Cutting the links, Daryl kicked the door open running onto the roof.<p>

"Merle!"

The rest of them filed out as Daryl looked around wildly for his brother still calling out his name. Running across the catwalk, T-Dog slowed as Daryl came to the pipe that Merle was once handcuffed to, stopping. Breathing irratically, Daryl let out an angry scream as he paced back and forth where Merle was supposed to be at before whipping his head to give T-Dog a malevolent glare.

Truth be known, Luke truly felt sorry for the Dixon. Staring at the bloodied hacksaw, a trail of blood met a puddle of it and in the middle, laid Merle's hand. Running a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes while Daryl screamed out again in distress.


	14. 14: Jim's Warning

**Ok, so I got Chapter 14 out finally! I must say, I'm proud of myself and to all the reader's out there that have made this possible for me. This is the second story I have written on that has 14 chapters and soon to be more! I want to keep this out there that I am still wanting input from everyone on this story. What I should do to keep this more interesting, ideas, tips, anything you guys can think of to help me out. Especially on the sexual tension. Please, please, please, let me know if something isn't right or if I should go back over something and redo it.**

**Thanks everyone!**

**R&R, please!**

* * *

><p><strong>Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums-Chapter 14: Jim's Warning<strong>

The sky had an ominous look to it as Rick, Glenn, Luke, and T-Dog watched Daryl mourn over his brother. His screams bounced off the surrounding buildings, echoing back to them. Luke, T-Dog and Rick slowly and cautiously stood behind Daryl as they watched him look to the ground at Merle's severed hand. Spinning around without warning, Daryl aimed his crossbow at T-Dog. Rick aimed his revolver at Daryl's head along with Luke and the pistol that Lyricka had given him.

"I won't hesitate." Rick warned calmly, "I don't care if every walker in this city hears it."

The corners of Daryl's mouth quivered as he fought back angry tears, lowering his weapon from T-Dog's face. Luke and Rick disarmed their weapons as well, warily looking at the fuming Dixon. Standing in silence, Daryl squeezed his eyes shut a few times blinking away the tears as he looked to T-Dog.

"You got a do rag or somethin'?" Daryl finally asked as T-Dog silently obliged his question, reaching down into his pocket, pulling out a blue bandana and handed it to Daryl as he walked over to the pipe setting his crossbow down. Laying out the bandana he kneeled down beside the hand.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuff," Picking up his brother's hand by the pinky, Daryl looked at it, "Ain't that a bitch?" Laying it down in the middle of the bandana, he carefully folded the cloth over the hand with a sigh and got up searching for a bag. Motioning towards Glenn, he walked over to him and opened his bag up. Glenn closed his eyes with an uncomfortable frown and much to his disappointment, Daryl placed Merle's hand inside. Giving Glenn a look, Daryl turned around to grab his crossbow.

"He must've used a tourniquet. Maybe his belt." He pointed to a blood trail following it, "He would've lost more blood if he didn't."

Rick pointed to the pile of Dale's tools that T-Dog had left behind from the first trip. Luke and him went over to it and picked them up as Glenn followed Rick. Rounding a corner, Daryl and Rick slowly approached another stairwell where the blood trailed down the stairs. Daryl going down first, he looked down warily, "Merle! Ya down there?"

* * *

><p>A few hours had went by since the incident at the quarry as the sun relentlessly beat down on the camp. Dale taking guard on top of the RV, peered through his binoculars. He could see Amy and Andrea fishing off in the quarry, Lyricka and Miranda playing with their children, and Jim furiously digging hole in the field above the camp. Curiousity getting the best of him, he climbed down from the top of the vehicle and went up to where Jim was at.<p>

Sweat poured off the skinny man as Dale gotten closer. His eyes trailed from each hole to the next, an uneasy feeling churning in his gut, "Jim? You ok?" He asked. Recieving no answer from the man, Dale shifted slightly uneasy from Jim's actions, "You keep this up, you're gonna keel over out here." A few moments passed that the neither of them spoke until Dale switched the canteen he had in his hands, "Drink some water at least."

Jim paused for a moment looking up at Dale, not speaking, then returned to digging the hole, refusing the water. Dale looked at Jim concerned with not only him working this hard, but the fact that he was working this hard in this intense heat, giving him one last look and headed back into camp.

* * *

><p>A grotesquely disfigured walker turned around with her lower jaw and throat ripped out, gurgled as blood splattered on the wall behind it when a bolt went through it's forehead. Walking out of the room, Daryl met Glenn and Rick with Luke and T-Dog bringing up the rear. The group's eyes peeled for any sign of Walkers or Merle. The blood trail continued as they came into a room where the bodies of two walkers lay.<p>

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches, one handed." Daryl commented looking around, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother." he paused briefly to pull the drawstring on his crossbow back and replace the bolt, "Feed 'im a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss," Rick said giving Daryl a look, "Doesn't matter how tough he is."

* * *

><p>Walking back from the quarry with a string full of fish in tow, Amy and Andrea made their way into camp with smiles on their faces. Morales chuckled happily as he greeted them, "Guys, look at that." Andrea handed him the string of caught fish, "Ladies, because of you, my family will eat tonight. Thank you."<p>

Lori clapped at the two girl's catch, impressed.

"Thank Dale, it's his Canoe and gear." Andrea replied as Amy took a drink from her water bottle as Jacqui smiled at Andrea, giving her a high five.

"Mommy, look! Look at all the fish!" Addison exclaimed with a big smile as she stood beside Carl with bright eyes. Carl smiled at her excitedly as Lori moved away with a laugh as Morales brought them in her direction. Lyricka smiled at how well Amy and Andrea done. Both Addison and Carl went up to the string of fish, looking at them in awe, "Woah." They said in unison as they poked the fish. Addison giggled with glee.

"Yeah, woah." Lori said impressed, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Our dad." Amy said proudly as Andrea looked at her with a smile.

Carl looked up to Amy, "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Sure!" Amy replied, "I can teach you all about nail knots and stuff, if that's ok."

Lori shrugged, "It's fine by me."

Addison looked to Lyricka, "Mommy don't you know how to fish too?"

She nodded as her and Carol sewed up a pair of jeans, "Yeah, Addi-girl. Ya know I do."

"Can you teach me?"

Lyricka chuckled at her daughter, "You know I will, girl."

"Hey Dale!" Andrea called out, Lyricka looking up seeing him walking from the field above the campsite, "When was the last time you oiled up those line reels? They're a discrace!" She said teasingly.

Something was wrong with Dale, Lyricka noticed it right away, "I uh, I don't want to alarm anyone but we may have a bit of a problem." Shane noticed Dale as he got up. Dale turned towards the field and pointed. Everyone saw Jim still digging furiously.

* * *

><p>Following the blood trail into a kitchen, Daryl slowly entered, "Merle?"<p>

"We're not alone here, remember?" Rick said lowly as Daryl looked the other way.

"Screw that, he could be bleedin' out, you said so yourself."

The smell of burning flesh and propane floated around as Luke entered seeing a propane stove burning. Picking up a tool, he noticed burnt flesh on the metal.

"What's that burnt stuff?" Glenn asked quietly as Luke glanced over to him.

"Skin." Luke murmured, "He cauterized his stump." Glenn's face paled as he looked away in disgust.

"Told ya he's tough." Daryl said, "Nobody can kill Merle, but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith." Rick said, "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah?" Daryl replied cockily walking over to a busted window, "Didn't stop him from bustin' outta this death trap."

The four of them walked over in shock, "He left the building?" Glenn said uneasily, "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl asked nodding outside, "He's out there alone as far as he knows. He's gotta do what he's gotta do. Survivin'."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog said in disbelief, "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What's his odds out there?"

"No worse than bein' handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks!" He snarled out giving T-Dog and Glenn a dark glare as they averted his harsh looks, he turned to face Rick sizing him up, "You couldn't kill him. I ain't worried about some dumb _dead_ bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards? Different story?" Rick bit out.

"Why don' you take a tally? Do what ya want? I'm going to get him."

Rick put a hand on Daryl's chest, "Daryl, wait."

He jumped back, "Get yer hands off me! Ya can't stop me!"

"I don't blame you, he's family. I get that. I went through hell to find mine. Luke and Lyricka's been through hell to find each other and still are trying to find their other brother. I know and they know exactly how you feel." Rick paused to assess Daryl's reaction, "He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around, _only_ if we keep a level head."

"I can do that."

Rick looked to T-Dog who started shaking his head, "Only if we get those guns first, I ain't strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

* * *

><p>The heat from the noon day sun beat down on everyone at the camp as they all followed Shane up to the field to where Jim, who was still furiously digging away, was at. Shane studied him for a moment as everyone shifted around uneasily by Jim's actions.<p>

"Hey Jim?" He finally asked, "How bout you hold up, alright? Give me a minute here, please?"

Jim huffed impatiently as he dug the shovel into the ground and straightened up, sweat pouring down his grimy face and neck. Lyricka scrunched her nose, holding Addison closer to her side, "What do you want?"

"I'm just a little concerned man, that's all."

"Dale says you've been out here for hours." Morales said as Jim's eyes squinted at Dale briefly before looking at Morales.

"So?"

"So why ya diggin?" Shane asked as Jim closed his eyes, panting, hanging his head to rub his face with his hand silently, "Are you diggin to China, Jim?" Shane asked laughing slightly to clear up the tension.

Jim smiled crookedly, "Doesn't matter, I'm not hurting anyone." He grasped the shovel and started to dig again.

"Yeah, except maybe yourself." Dale added, "It's-It's a hundred degrees today, you can't keep this up."

"Sure I can, watch me!" Jim bit out in aggravation from being bothered by everyone.

"Jim, they're not going to say it so I will, you're scaring people." Lori said with concern, "You're scaring my son, and Carol's and Lyricka's daughters." Lyricka looked down to Addison as she hid behind her legs, one hand gripping Lyricka's shorts, the other in her mouth. Her eyes wide with fear. She couldn't blame her, she was only four. How was she going to explain what was going on to her?

"They have nothing to be scared of," Jim replied, still panting, "I mean, what the hell people? I'm out here by myself, why don't you go and leave me the hell alone?" Shane turned to look at Lori as he turned back towards the digging man.

"We think you need to take a break, ok? Why don't you get you some shade, some food, tell you what, in a lil' bit, I'll come out here and help you myself. Jim? Just tell me what this is about. Just give me the shovel."

"Or what?" he seethed out.

"There is no, _or what_. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you." Shane soothed out, using his cop magic, or was trying to.

"If not, then what? Then you gonna beat my face in like you did Ed Peletier, aren't ya?" Jim spat out as Shane hung his head. Lyricka's lips pursed in amusement, the ache from Ed's hit still seethed in her jaw, "Did ya'll see his face? Or what's left of it? See, that's what happens when someone crosses you."

The look Shane gave Jim could've killed him. His jaw clenched and nose flared at what Jim had said, he bore holes where Jim stood, "That's different, Jim."

"You weren't there." Amy said in Shane's defense, "Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife and hurt Lyricka."

"That is their marriage and was none of _her_ business getting into the middle of it, nor is it his!" Jim shouted to Amy. Lyricka looked over to Carol as she hugged Sophia closer to her. Anger flared up inside of her, only for her to bite her tongue. "He is not her jury. Who voted you King Boss?" He spat out to Dale.

"We're not here to argue with you. Give me the shovel, ok?" Shane said, his patience running thin as he reached towards Jim to take the shovel away from him. Jim jerked back out of his grasp.

"No, no, no." Jim laughed out moving away from Shane until he shoved him away and swung the shovel. Shane ducked as he tackled the poor man to the ground. Lyricka's eyes were wide in shock, her mouth slightly open. Addison started to whimper as she picked her daughter up, " 's alright."

"Alright, alright!" Jim shouted out from under Shane as he struggled against him.

"Stop!" Shane gritted out, pulling Jim's arms behind his back.

"Alright!" Jim shouted out, still struggling against him.

"Jim, stop!" Shane said firmly against the struggling man putting his hands in cuffs, "Nobody is going to hurt you. Hear me?"

Jim whimpered into the ground, his voice cracking, "It's lies. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife. My two boys. I said that a hundred times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of them. Just pulled them right out of my hands." He paused to let it sink in. Lyricka's throat closed, her grip on her daughter gotten tighter as she pressed her hand gently on the back of Addison's head to put it on her shoulder. Laying her cheek on her hair, she stared at Jim as he looked up at everyone with dismay in his eyes as the haunting memory came back to him, "You know the only reason I'm here is because the dead were too busy eating them." Ice ran through everyone's veins. Lori put her hands over her mouth in horror. Shane sighed. Lyricka fought back tears.

* * *

><p>"You're not doing thing alone." Rick finalized.<p>

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like ya much." Daryl said.

Glenn looked up at them, "It's a good idea, kay? Just hear me out." Rick kneeled down to listen to him, his hand on his mouth, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look," he made out a map of the buildings placing a little black block in between two, "This is where the tank is, five blocks from where we are. Now," he placed a piece of crumpled paper infront of it, "That's the bag of guns." He pointed to the alley away from the tank, "There's the alley I drug you in when we first met, that's where Daryl and I will go."

Daryl looked to Glenn, "Why me?"

"Your crossbow. It's quieter than his gun." Daryl nodded curtly as Glenn placed a clip in the alley, "While Daryl waits here, I run up the street, and grab the bag."

"But you got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"You, T-Dog, and Luke, you'll be in this alley here," He continued as he placed an eraser in an alley two blocks away.

"Two blocks away? Why?" Luke asked.

"I may not be able to come back the same way, Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I might not go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead. All the way around to that alleyway where you guys are. Whichever way I go, I got you in both places to cover me." Luke nodded in confirmation, "Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas, why?"

Luke, Rick, and Daryl all nodded, impressed at the Korean boy's plan. Getting into postition, Rick, Luke, and T-Dog awaited further instructions.

Climbing down the ladder, Glenn and Daryl made their way into the alley, as Glenn waited for Daryl to finish climbing down. Readying his crossbow, him and Glenn silently made their way.

Making position behind a dumpster, Daryl shouldered his crossbow, "Got some balls for a Chinaman."

Glenn looked at him over his shoulder, "I'm Korean."

"Whatever."

Glenn then made his way to the gate and sprinted down the street to the tank. In the alleyway, Daryl heard footsteps coming his way. Jumping out, aiming his crossbow, a boy froze with his arms out.

"Woah, don't shoot me!" He shouted out, "What do you want?"

"Looking for my brother, hurt real bad. Ya seen him?" He gritted out as the boy started to shout something out in Spanish, "Shut up. You're gonna get Geeks down on us. Answer me!"

Snatching up the bag of guns, he started to run off before groaning and ran back to get Rick's hat. Looking up, a Walker was heading straight towards him as he sprinted back in the direction where Daryl was at.

Still pointing his crossbow at the boy, he glared daggers into him, "Answer me!"

The boy shouted something else in Spanish. Two blocks down, T-Dog, Rick, and Luke froze hearing the shouts and ran to Daryl and Glenn's position, fearing the worst. Daryl meleed the boy to shut him up and covered the boy's mouth with his hand, only to have the boy rolling around screaming. Two men came around into the alleyway only to have Daryl kicked off the boy and beat with a pipe. Glenn, making his way back into the alley, froze seeing the men beat on Daryl. One of the men noticed him and stopped.

"That's it! That's the bag!" he shouted as the bigger man charged him and punched Glenn, "Take it!"

Grabbing the bag, the other man beat Glenn with the pipe as they were making their way out until Daryl shot the bigger man in the ass with a bolt. He screamed out in pain, dropping it, causing the two men to run to a car, holding Glenn hostage. As they sped off, Daryl got up, running to the fence.

"Come back here, you sunsabitches!"

Walkers started to come towards him, closing the gate off from them and turned towards the boy as Rick, T-Dog, and Luke made it to where he was at. Rick pushed Daryl back as he fought against him, in an attempt to mangle the boy.

"Stop it!" Rick shouted as Daryl struggled against him.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" He shouted out as T-Dog and Luke held the boy against the wall.

"Let me go!" He shouted and started to struggle against their hold.

"Chill out!" T-Dog barked out.

"They took Glenn! Little bastard and his bastard homie friends! I'm gonna stomp your ass!" He shouted out in anger. Rick gave the boy a dark look.

"We're cut off!" Rick looked to Luke and T-Dog, "Get to the ladder, go!"

Grabbing the boy by the arms, Luke and T-Dog ran down the alley to the ladder as Rick ran to pick up the bag of guns and paused upon seeing his hat. Grabbing it, the group sprinted towards the ladder.

* * *

><p>Later on in the day, since that incident with Jim up at the field, Shane had him tied up to the tree as a just in case for the safety of everyone in the camp and for Jim's sake. Sitting at the table with Lori and Carol, Lyricka was attempting to teach her basic math. Thirty feet away, tied up to a tree was Jim. She shrugged off the feeling of him staring at them as she continued to rattle her brain for her elementary school level math problems. Walking down to him, Shane and Dale kneeled down next to Jim with a bucket of water.<p>

"Jim, take some water?"

"Alright." Jim complied tiredly as Shane smiled somewhat as he dipped a cup down into the bucket, Jim looking over to the table where the women were sitting at with their children.

"Here you go, bud." Shane murmured as Jim looked away and took a drink of water. Swallowing he hummed at the coolness.

"Pour some on my head?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Dipping the cup back in the bucket, Shane picked it back up and poured some over Jim's head. Morales walked towards them, picking up a large rock and paused looking at him before he walked away.

"Cooling you down, huh?"

Jim nodded, "How long are you gonna keep me like this?"

"Well, I don't think you're a danger to others or yourself."

"Sorry if I scared your boy." Jim started causing Lori, Carol, and Lyricka to look up and at him, "And your little girls."

"You had sunstroke, nobody's blamin' you." Lori assured as she looked back down to Carl.

"You're not scared now, are ya?" Jim asked as Addison and Sophia slowly looked to the tied up man.

Addison only shook her head, "No, sir." Sophia replied.

"Your mom is right son, sun cooked my head 's all."

"Jim, do you know why you were digging?" Dale asked him, "Can you say?"

"Had a reason, don't remember. Somehting I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it, you were too. You were worried about something. I can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" Jim asked all of a sudden.

"They're not back yet." Carl said quietly as Lori stroked his head.

"Let's not talk about that." Lori said changing the subject.

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. He probably came across some folks that need help, that's all." Lori and Carl looked to Jim quietly, "That man, he's tough as nails. I don't know him well, but, I can see it in him. Am I right?" He looked up to Shane, who looked bewildered for a moment and hesistated.

"Oh yeah."

"There ain't nothing that'll stop him from getting back to you, no matter what."

Lyricka looked up seeing Lori smile a little bit before moving her eyes over to Shane who had a different look to him. Almost hoping that Rick wouldn't come back. She didn't like that look at all. Watching Shane get up with the bucket in his hand, he started to walk over to the table.

"Who wants to help me clean some fish?"

Without hesitation, Sophia and Carl jumped up, "Sweet, come on Sophia."

Addison looked to Lyricka with big eyes, "Can I go?" She looked to Carl and Sophia, who were waiting and looked over to Carol and Lori, before sighing.

"Yeah, go on. Carl, Sophia, you watch her good." They nodded with big smiles as she ran off with them.

"Stay with Carol." Lori chided as they all followed Shane.

Lyricka and Lori still sat at the table after the children were gone. Lyricka gathered Addison's work up before watching Lori get up and walk over to Jim.

"You keep your boy close, don't ever let him out of your sight. Same goes for you with your little girl." Jim said. Lyricka looked at Jim as Lori said nothing and walked off.


End file.
